Shiba Inu ($SHIB) Reportedly Gaining in Popularity in Turkey As Inflation Rages

Turkey’s inflationary disaster is leading to increased adoption for certain cryptoassets, including Shiba Inu ($SHIB) and Tether ($USDT). 

According to a new report by CoinDesk, the Turkish Lira’s plunging value and a soaring inflation is forcing the residents of the country to turn to cryptoassets as an alternative.

While Bitcoin has historically been a favored digital store-of-value asset for countries in similar situations, the report claims Turkish citizens are looking to $SHIB and $USDT as alternatives. Trading volume for the BTC/TRY trading pair on Binance was $918 million in November, less than one-fifth that of the SHIB/TRY ($5.26 bln) and USDT/TRY ($5.58 bln) trading pairs.

Strahinja Savic, head of data and analytics at Toronto-based FRNT Financial, told CoinDesk:

The data shows despite the instability faced by the lira, local traders are still attracted to the exceptional returns associated with coins such as SHIB. 

The Turkish Lira has depreciated 87% this year, including a 40% crash against the dollar in November. The native currency is on pace for its ninth straight annual drop, with inflation topping 20%. 

Sabri Aygun, a textile professional and crypto investor from Instabul, claimed the situation was even more dire. 

The official inflation figure is 21%, but at the ground level, it is more like 50%. 

Aygun said the country’s citizens were prioritizing gold and the dollar, but also buying into cheap crypto coins such as $SHIB, $VET and $XRP. 

As CoinDesk points out, $SHIB, with its supply of 1 quadrillion tokens, is seen as cheap compared with other popular coins. On the Binance TR exchange, SHIB/TRY is currently (as of 04:05 a.m. UTC on December 14) trading around 0.0004775 liras down 5.13% in the past 24-hour period while BTC/TRY is trtading around 676,020, down 2.73% in the past 24-hour period.

Crypto-based payments are currently banned in Turkey, but owning cryptoassets is allowed under the law. 

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.