A famous Bitcoin skeptic has called for a gold-backed currency to save Turkey as its national fiat currency collapses. In a tweet on Monday, John Hopkins professor Steve Hanke argued that hard money was now the only way out for Turkey, which has spent billions of dollars propping up the lira. Hanke: Turkey’s lira is “toast” At press time, those efforts were still in vain, as another day of intense selling sent the lira to a record low against various currencies including the euro and Bitcoin (BTC). Weakness in the United States dollar meant that the lira–dollar pair avoided a …

A new survey seems to debunk the common conception of Turkey as a cryptocurrency-savvy country. Major Turkish crypto exchange Paribu had a simple aim: to find 1,000 Turkish citizens who somehow heard about crypto. It took over 6,000 video interviews across 12 cities in Turkey during the peak of COVID-19 outbreak, to achieve this goal. The reported results have debunked a major myth about the Turkish crypto ecosystem. A previous report claiming that one-fifth of the Turkish population has used or owned cryptocurrency had drawn the attention of many global crypto players. The global-scale survey from Statista, conducted in the …

Turkish real estate firm Antalya Homes announced that its customers can now pay for properties listed on its platform with Bitcoin (BTC). According to a June 15 announcement, Antalya Homes claims to have recorded the highest-valued real estate sale ever made while using Bitcoin as a payment in Turkey. Per the company, the coronavirus pandemic forced the real estate industry to innovate. More precisely, Antalya Homes reacted by offering virtual home tours and adding support for Bitcoin on its website. The firm’s chairman Bayram Tekce explained: “In the sale of a villa in Antalya, we recorded visuals of the house …

The co-founder of BiLira (TRYB), the first stablecoin pegged to the Turkish Lira, is predicting that Turkey will announce a new regulatory framework for blockchain “within the next year.” In an interview with Cointelegraph, Vidal Arditi, BiLira’s COO and co-founder, predicted that the updated apparatus will be designed “to protect the average guy and the investors and not inhibit the growth of the sector.” Arditi also emphasized that Turkey’s government has been heavily investing in the country’s blockchain future, asserting that Turkey’s leaders have been heavily “backing blockchain associations, blockchain student clubs, blockchain accelerators and such,” adding: “I'm sure we'll …

A major Turkish bank completed the country’s first-ever international trade finance transaction based on distributed ledger technology, or DLT. This adds another milestone to the country’s increasing blockchain efforts. İşbank, the first Turkish bank to join R3’s Corda platform earlier this year, now became the first bank in Turkey to use blockchain technology on trade finance transactions, Cointelegraph Turkey reported on Jun. 5. Using Corda blockchain technology, İşbank and Commerzbank secured payments by digitally processing the related data transfer. The transaction took place on 27 May 2020 between İşbank, Şişecam, Kuraray Europe GmbH, and Commerzbank AG and supported the trade …

Over-the-counter and cryptocurrency futures exchange BTSE today launched support for BiLira’s Turkish stablecoin TRYB. TRYB can now be traded against Tether (USDT) on BTSE’s spot markets. Cointelegraph spoke to BiLira and BTSE to find out more about what the listing means for Turkey’s burgeoning cryptocurrency sector. BTSE co-founder and CEO Jonathan Leong stated that the listing “enables Turkish users to facilitate lower fees via remittances, as well as instantaneous settlement times for TRYB users.” Leong told Cointelegraph that BTSE entered the Turkish market earlier this year, stating that the exchange has garnered “a strong and growing community in Turkey.” He …

The crypto ecosystem tends to see regulations as “the big bad wolf.” In this narrative, government and regulators set rules that slow down innovation and damage growth for the crypto industry. That might have been the case a few years ago, but not anymore, according to BitPanda CEO Eric Demuth: “Depending on the regulation, it can be quite a good thing now that the industry and many companies have reached a size that matters.” Demuth was a keynote speaker during the Blockchain Economy 2020 conference in Istanbul, Turkey. He made time for a quick chat with Cointelegraph Turkey on Feb. …

Major crypto exchange Binance announced that their fiat on-ramp for Turkish Lira is live thanks to a partnership with major Turkish bank Akbank, Cointelegraph Turkey reported on March 2. Binance users from Turkey can now deposit and withdraw directly through money order or EFT, whether they have an Akbank account or not. “As one of the biggest banks in Turkey, Akbank is serving the crypto community since 2017,” Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao told Cointelegraph. He continued: “By working with Akbank, Binance KYCed users who have Turkish bank accounts will be able to buy crypto via instant bank transfers at …

Fundstrat’s Tom Lee was the main highlight of last week’s Blockchain Economy 2020 event in Istanbul, Turkey. Taking the stage on day two, Lee addressed a crypto-savvy audience for about half an hour. Before delving into why Bitcoin (BTC) would see a price hike this year, Lee started his speech with a nod to the famous comparison between the internet and blockchain: “The most important generational trade over the next twenty years is going to stand around the disruption of the financial industry. And the most important of these technologies are going to be blockchain and crypto.” Those two topics …

Turkey is making huge strides toward becoming one of the world’s premier locations for blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption. A nation that has often been seen as a key strategic partner to the world’s biggest and most influential countries due to its positioning between east and west might yet become the central hub for this nascent industry. Some might call it unsurprising, given that inflation hit levels of 25% as of October 2018, shortly after the U.S. sanctions crippled an already struggling Turkish economy failing to recover from the 2016 coup attempt. These factors, coupled with low interest rates and an …

United Kingdom-based cryptocurrency data and wallet provider Blockchain.com has launched a gateway for the Turkish lira on its crypto exchange. Blockchain.com is the latest major crypto exchange to join the growing roster of crypto platforms with a direct gateway for the Turkish lira, according to a press release published on Jan. 29. Blockchain has launched full banking integration to enable users to deposit and withdraw TRY on the exchange platform. Crypto users from Turkey don't need a third-party payment method to buy and sell crypto on Blockchain.com Exchange. The release says that "Turkish users can now deposit, withdraw, and use …

Konya, the city of the world-famous poet Rumi, might not come to mind when talking about technology, especially blockchain and cryptocurrencies. As one of the major cultural centers of Turkey, Konya is known for its rich history, gorgeous mosques, and historical sites. But that has not stopped the Anatolian city from setting up its "Science and Technology Valley," under the umbrella of Konya Science Center, and building a team to apply blockchain to municipal services. First revealed by Konya Metropolitan Mayor Uğur İbrahim Altay during a local smart city congress in Ankara on Jan. 16, this Turkish city is looking …