Bitcoin Breaks All-Time High Against Argentine Peso, Turkish Lira, Brazillian Real

Bitcoin has surged beyond its all-time high against the Argentine peso, Turkish lira and Brazillian Real by 169%, 20% and 5% respectively as growing concerns in their local economies put strains on fiat, turning people to Bitcoin to facilitate transactions and to store value.

The performance of Bitcoin against the Argentine peso (BTC/ARS) has increased by 169% since Bitcoin’s all-time high in December 2017. According to Usefultulips.org, which combined the data from peer-to-peer exchanges LocalBitcoins.com and Paxful, transactions involving Bitcoin have also soared in recent weeks and have surged past $1.042 million this August. These transactions have steadily increased since 2017 but there was a spike on July 5, causing transactions to increase to $830,0000.

Turkey’s Bitcoin to Turkish Lira (BTC/TRY) pair has increased by 20% since December 2017 and at the moment, transaction volumes on Paxful and LocalBitcoins.com remain steadily increasing since the beginning of the year. While not on the same level as in 2018, transaction volumes in 2020 started increasing by May, with volume on Paxful starting to increase by May 3.

Bitcoin’s performance against the Brazilian Real increased just by 5%, but transaction volume has surged in 2020.Its use on Paxful has continually increased in the last few weeks beginning on May 31. By Aug. 9, Paxful pulled half of LocalBitcoins total volume with the former’s volume at $213,000 while the latter had $519,000.

While the trading activity could reflect increasing interest in Bitcoin’s price appreciation, news outlet Decrypt said the state of these countries’ economies may have an effect on people looking into Bitcoin as an alternative for transactions and storing of value.

Brazil’s currency has devalued by over 30% against the U.S. dollar. As a result, people are looked into investing in funds, stocks and cryptocurrencies.

Argentina is in its worst economic crisis, which caused Argentines to turn to Bitcoin to protect them against the devaluing local currency. Because regulations in the country prevent easy access to foreign currencies, Bitcoin, which can be transacted peer-to-peer, is easily obtainable.

With rapidly shrinking foreign reserves, Turkey’s economy could collapse and this event is being accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, according to Foreign Policy.