Turkey turns to crypto as political arrests cause Lira plunge
Crypto exchanges in Turkey saw an almost 29% surge in trading volume over the past 24 hours after the Turkish Lira (TRY) plunged to a record low following the arrest of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rival, Ekrem İmamoğlu. Top Turkish exchanges BtcTurk and Paribo have both seen a 29% and 23% increase in 24-hour trading volume respectively. The trading volume of Binance’s Turkey branch, Binance TR, also rose almost 24%, while the bitcoin-lira pair reportedly rose to the highest hourly trading volume across the past year. Protests in Turkey today after the detention of Istanbul mayor and opposition leader Ekrem İmamoğlu. He is considered the main rival to current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in future elections. İmamoğlu was detained at home this morning on suspicion of corruption, running a… pic.twitter.com/5Sf5bYiiv2 — Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) March 19, 2025 Read more: Coinbase to leave Turkey after ending USDC yields in EU Ekrem İmamoğlu w...