Once implemented, the crypto law will implement a new economic model that can potentially help recover the lira’s falling value.
Bitcoin hits $49K as BTC price gets unlikely boost from Erdoğan’s Turkish lira tinkering
The man who declared “war” on crypto in September helps fuel snap overnight gains.
Bitcoin wobbles below $46K as 1 BTC passes 800K Turkish lira for the first time
Bitcoin price weakness is arguably only welcomed by those who chose it over saving in lira this week.
Is Hyperinflation Inevitable? Jack Dorsey Says It’ll “Change Everything”
When Square’s boss Jack Dorsey talks about hyperinflation, the world listens. And Twitter reacts. Since so-called developed economies are now feeling the pain that inflation brings, the concept is in everyone’s mind. Every human has a front-row seat to witness the consequences of the United State’s relentless money printing. And, since the Dollar is still the reserve currency of the world, they’re all feeling it too.
Related Reading | Bullish For Bitcoin: US Inflation Expectation Breaks Out From Decade Long Downtrend
This is Jack Dorsey’s tweet:
Hyperinflation is going to change everything. It’s happening.
— jack⚡️ (@jack) October 23, 2021
As you can see, he doesn’t merely talk about inflation. He goes for “hyperinflation,” which caused adverse reactions in the replies and the quoted tweets. They accused him of fear-mongering and quoted official numbers at him. And the nay-sayers probably have a point here, because the US is far removed from the reality that word implies. However, one thing’s for sure: money printer goes brrrrrrrr… and it hasn’t stopped working since Covid hit.
Negative And Moderate Reactions To Jack Dorsey‘s Tweet
This is an example of an unnecessarily insulting response from a traditional finance person.
2/ step back and it’s disturbing that a lot of most powerful financial figures/oligarchs are invested, literally and figuratively, in various huckster schemes and libertarianish fantasies of state and civilizations collapse.
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) October 23, 2021
This man has obviously not done his homework regarding Bitcoin, so his argument is invalid. And doesn’t require a response. Plus, he’s being insulting to get attention, which he got. So, good for him and his dopamine levels. Let’s hope he has fun staying poor.
This is a Venezuelan economist with a moderate answer to Jack Dorsey.
I don't think it will. But it doesn't need to happen for things to get ugly. https://t.co/Cj85mJ8o7x
— Eduardo Gavotti (@EduardoGavotti) October 23, 2021
Since Venezuelans have first-hand experience with hyperinflation, let’s take what he says into account. The US is just feeling what inflation does. So-called developing economies live with that concept on their backs every second of every day.
BTC price chart for 10/23/2021 on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Informative Reactions To Jack Dorsey’s Tweet
The Human Rights Foundation’s Alex Gladstein, a notorious Bitcoin maximalist, had this to say to Jack Dorsey.
Those shocked by this tweet live in a bubble of financial privilege.
*1.3 billion* live under double, triple, or quadruple-digit inflation: Turkey, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Iran, Lebanon, Venezuela, Cuba, Sudan, and beyond.
It’s already one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises. https://t.co/P83opDagdu
— Alex Gladstein 🌋 ⚡ (@gladstein) October 23, 2021
He’s not lying. Hyperinflation is “already one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises.” However, the US is far away from “Turkey, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Iran, Lebanon, Venezuela, Cuba”, and Sudan’s situation. And, since the Dollar is still the reserve currency of the world, they have a comfortable cushion to resist the constant money printing’s effects.
Serial entrepreneur and former Coinbase CTO, Balaji Srinivasan, answered Jack Dorsey with a fully-fledged idea. A “censorship-resistant inflation index.”
I wrote a spec for a censorship-resistant inflation index. It’s framed for a startup, but Square could easily do this. In a crisis, accurate inflation info would be something people checked Twitter for every day. @milessuter @moneyball @jack https://t.co/SYb2mfxjex
— Balaji Srinivasan (@balajis) October 23, 2021
In the project, he brings forth some hard truths:
“If inflation is a government-caused problem, we can’t necessarily rely on government statistics like the CPI to diagnose it or remediate it. Indeed, in places with high inflation, censorship and denial is the rule rather than the exception.”
If you are technically capable, there’s still time to send your proposal and earn “A $100k Prize for a Decentralized Inflation Dashboard.” Be aware that “if you use Chainlink’s oracle tech in your project, the best dashboard will be eligible to receive a $100k grant in LINK tokens.” Those tokens are in addition to the main prize.
Poor Understanding Of The Terminology
In a Twitter Spaces room specifically dedicated to Jack Dorsey’s tweet, notorious podcaster Preston Pysh concluded.
“I think people’s understanding of the terminology, deflation, inflation, is just grossly misunderstood. And so, when you say we’re going to have these deflationary events that are then going to lead to more QE, which is then going to result in more inflationary events. I completely agree with you, but we’re talking that there’s so much information loss in such a simple word as deflation and inflation. So the deflationary event is that this whole system is constructed as credit.”
When he says QE, Preston refers to Quantitative Easing, which Investopedia defines as:
“A form of unconventional monetary policy in which a central bank purchases longer-term securities from the open market in order to increase the money supply and encourage lending and investment. Buying these securities adds new money to the economy, and also serves to lower interest rates by bidding up fixed-income securities.”
Related Reading | Jack Dorsey Plans to Build A Decentralized Exchange For Bitcoin
That being said, Preston asks:
“How many people in the US, or in the world, have that context when that’s not their expertise, right? They didn’t get a major in macroeconomics, or finance, or whatever. So, it’s just all buzzwords that people throw around. And, in the meantime, no one really even understands what those definitions even represent.”
For more information about inflation, check out the Bitcoinist Book Club analysis of Saifedean Ammous’ “The Bitcoin Standard.”
Featured Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay – Charts by TradingView
Chinese blockchain project BSN expands to Turkey and Uzbekistan
Chinese blockchain project BSN comes to Turkey and Uzbekistan after launching the BSN Hong Kong and Macau portal.
Did Turkey’s President Say “We Are In A War Against Bitcoin”? An Investigation
Is President Erdogan so out of touch with what’s happening around him that he declared war against Bitcoin? Or is this a case of “lost in translation” and quotes out of context? An article titled “We are in a war against bitcoin,” says Turkey’s president” has been making the rounds over at Bitcoin-Twitter, receiving both mockery and rightful criticism. However, we noticed a crucial detail: the article doesn’t contain a direct quote from Erdogan. That’s suspect.
Related Reading | New To Bitcoin? Learn To Trade Crypto With The NewsBTC Trading Course
Armed with an iron will and Google Translate, NewsBTC explored the issue and came to unexpected conclusions.
Let’s fall into the rabbit hole.
“When President Erdogan fired the central bank president in March, sending the Turkish lira plummeting against the dollar, Google searches for the term “bitcoin” soared across the country.”
The tighter politicians squeeze, the faster #Bitcoin succeeds.https://t.co/F9wmVfl06C
— Robert Breedlove (@Breedlove22) September 20, 2021
Is It War Against Bitcoin Or War Against Cryptocurrencies?
The original article cited a mainstream and generally trusted source, an article in Turkish at Bloomberght titled “Erdogan: We have a separate war against cryptocurrencies.” Reportedly, the president held a Youth Meeting Program, so his audience for this was students from all over the country. They were discussing the Digital Turkish Lira, the country’s proposed CBDC, and one of the participants asked about their current views on cryptocurrencies:
“Erdoğan said that they do not have a problem of opening up to crypto money, on the contrary, they have a separate war and struggle against them.
Erdogan said, “We will not give them such a premium, nor will we. Because we will continue on our way with our money, which is our fundamental identity in this matter.”
He never even mentions a war against Bitcoin. Remember, this is a Google translation and some info might’ve been lost. However, the discrepancies are there. The President says they “do not have a problem” with crypto, but that “on the contrary, they have a separate war and struggle against them.” On the contrary to what? And do notice, it’s not a direct quote either. In the actual Erdogan quote, he says nothing about a war against Bitcoin.
We need more data. Let’s consult other sources.
Remember, "We, the people", does not mean "We – the state". Trying to fight a technology that empowers people is a sure way to be on the losing side of history.
— Jeff Booth (@JeffBooth) September 20, 2021
What Did President Erdogan Say Exactly?
A quick search leads us to The New Arab. They don’t quote the President directly, but their translation makes much clearer the intent of what he said:
“Erdogan claimed that the country “definitely” doesn’t have a problem with the spread of digital assets.
However, that Turkey would carry on with its own money, which he believes is part of the national identity.”
They don’t have a problem with the spread of digital assets because they’re preparing their CBDC, and their way to sell it is that money is “part of the national identity.” Got it. But, what about this war against Bitcoin thing?
A second search leads us to Newsbit, who seemingly quote a much more clear-headed President Erdogan directly:
“We have absolutely no intention of embracing cryptocurrencies,” the president replied, adding: “On the contrary, we have a war against them. We would never support cryptocurrencies. Because we continue with our own currency that has its own identity.”
Ok, now we know that Erdogan never said anything about a war against Bitcoin and always referred to cryptocurrencies. And that, in code, he was always talking about the Digital Turkish Lira. However, did he really say all that? That quote seems suspiciously close to the original Bloomberg quote, and that one wasn’t literal. If the President said everything that clearly, why wouldn’t Bloomberg quote him?
BTC price chart for 09/20/2021 on Exmo | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Time To Consult Primary Sources
Luckily for us, Newsbit linked to the Anadolu Agency, a Turkish state-run news agency. This is as close to primary sources as we’re going to get. A report on the whole event that only casually mentions cryptocurrencies at the end. Is the quote present in that report? What did President Erdogan say exactly? Well, according to the Anadolu Agency:
“Erdoğan said that they do not have a problem of opening up to crypto money, on the contrary, they have a separate war and struggle against them.
Erdogan said, “We will not give them such a premium, nor will we. Because we will continue on our way with our money, which is our fundamental identity in this matter.”
Related Reading | Turkey’s Economic Turmoil Shows Bitcoin Is a Better Bet Than Emerging Markets
That’s right! The same exact quote with the same exact wording that Bloomberg used at the beginning. So, Bloomberg literally copied and pasted their article. And Newsbit’s supposed quote is just a rewording of that phrase. We don’t know exactly what President Erdogan said, but at least his intention is clear: Yes to his CBDC. War on cryptocurrencies. And we know for sure he never said anything about a war against Bitcoin.
Cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin are not synonymous, journalists.
Featured Image by Faruk Melik ÇEVİK on Unsplash – Charts by TradingView
‘We are at war’ with crypto, says Turkish President Erdoğan
The Turkish government’s plans for cryptocurrencies draw a stark contrast to its central bank digital currency intentions.
Turkish central bank taps local tech firms for digital currency R&D
The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey has signed agreements with various firms to form the Digital Turkish Lira Collaboration Platform.
Turkish prosecutors investigate alleged $119M Dogecoin mining scam
Unwitting DOGE investors were promised attractive returns of 100% in just 40 days in exchange for depositing their money.
Major Turkish sports club Fenerbahçe issues fan token on Ethereum
Crypto presents an opportunity to create a significant revenue stream for sports clubs around the world, Fenerbahçe S.K. President Ali Koç said.
Turkey’s crypto bill ready for parliament, says Deputy Minister of Finance
The legal draft places a minimum capital requirement for crypto businesses operating in Turkey.
Bitcoin mining ban an easy decision for China, says Bitmain EMEA partner
Half of what was lost due to China’s crackdown on Bitcoin mining will not ever go back online, Phoenix Store’s CEO says.
Crypto usage in Turkey jumped by elevenfold in a year, new survey shows
A new survey conducted in Turkey reveals how the perception of cryptocurrencies evolved over the last year.
Socios partners with Turkish soccer club union to explore digital revenue models
Turkey’s union of soccer clubs partners with Socios to improve fan engagement in the Turkish Süper Lig through technology and innovation.
Gold-backed digital tokens to hit Turkish market following new partnership
The partnership enables investors to purchase grams of accredited gold as ERC-20 tokens.
Premier League’s Wolverhampton Wanderers soccer club to launch fan token
Turkish blockchain platform Bitci steps into the English Premier League with a partnership with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Turkish crypto exchange acknowledges 2018 breach with 500,000 users’ data stolen
Criminals tried to sell users’ names, ID numbers, emails and addresses on internet forums.
Turkish customs confiscate over 500 smuggled Bitcoin mining rigs
Turkey’s biggest bust against crypto mining smugglers resulted in the seizure of $600,000 worth of illegal Bitcoin ASIC miners and the detention of four suspects.
Spain’s national soccer team to launch fan token on Turkish platform
La Roja is launching a fan token in partnership with Turkish blockchain platform Bitci Technology.
Turkish government to track crypto transactions over $1,200
Turkey’s Minister of Treasury and Finance sheds light on regulatory actions following an alleged $150-million crypto exchange scam.