Ozgur Guneri, the CEO of Turkish cryptocurrency exchange BtcTurk, announced he is stepping down after leading the company’s business operations for seven years.
According to Bloomberg, the change in management comes amid BtcTurk’s planned expansion to Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, and Latin America in a bid to become a global crypto exchange.
BtcTurk founder Kerem Tibuk will take over as CEO, while Guneri will remain with the company and serve on the board of directors.
Hyperinflation drives crypto demand in Turkey
Cryptocurrencies have gained traction in Turkey as an alternative to the country’s fiat currency, the Lira, a currency besieged by soaring inflation. In 2024, Trading Economics reported that the Lira’s annual inflationary rate cooled to 71.6% as of 2024.
Despite the suppressed price of Bitcoin (BTC) against the US dollar in December 2023, the decentralized store of value still managed to achieve all-time highs against the Egyptian pound, Turkish Lira, Argentine Peso, and Nigeria's Naira during the same period.
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Each of these fiat currencies is notorious for suffering from high inflation, which has caused local populations to adopt Bitcoin and other digital currencies to protect their purchasing power.
Chainalysis' 2024 Crypto Spring Report also revealed that Turkey had the highest percentage of dollar-pegged stablecoin usage relative to its gross domestic product (GDP) of any country.
Analysts from Chainalysis argued that Turkey's unusually high stablecoin usage indicates a population seeking refuge from monetary debasement.
Turkish government developing central bank digital currency
In 2023, the Turkish central bank released a progress report evaluating the research and development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The report revealed that the central bank began testing the digital identity system, wallets, and methods of account abstraction to streamline the user interface in phase one of the research and development process.
However, a digital version of the Lira will not address inflationary concerns, as any digital bank central currency does not change the underlying fundamentals of centrally managed fiat with no supply cap.
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