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. Bitcoin’s performance 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 risen in recent weeks and have surged past $1.042 million this month.
Transaction volume has also surged.
Turkey’s Bitcoin to Turkish Lira (BTC/TRY) pair has increased by 20% since December 2017. At the moment, transaction volumes on Paxful and LocalBitcoins.com remain steadily rising since the beginning of the year. While not on the same level as in 2018, transaction volumes in 2020 started increasing by May, with the volume on Paxful starting to rise 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 the LocalBitcoins total volume with the former’s volume at $213,000 while the latter had $519,000.
People turn to alternate currency as the economy collapses.
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. Several African countries have also reported a spike in crypto transactions. Argentina is in its worst economic crisis, which caused its citizens 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.
