Growth of the Turkish Crypto Market

Growth of the Turkish Crypto Market

In recent years, the Turkish crypto market has seen remarkable growth. Recent polls and surveys indicate that over half of the population is now invested in cryptocurrency.

This surge is reflected in the Turkish Lira (TRY) becoming the fourth most used fiat currency in crypto transactions. Several macroeconomic factors have driven this adoption, with stablecoins and meme coins emerging as the preferred choices for Turkish investors, even surpassing Bitcoin.

Dominance of Stablecoins and Meme Coins in Turkish Trades

According to a recent report by Kaiko, Turkey’s inflationary conditions have significantly increased the use of stablecoins. In 2024, the research firm highlighted that USDT-TRY is the largest trading pair by volume on Binance, reaching over $22 billion. This figure is more than five times the next largest pair, PEPE-USDT, which stands at $4 billion.

Interestingly, meme tokens have outperformed Bitcoin in trading volume this year, suggesting that Turkish traders are gravitating towards more speculative crypto assets to hedge against currency fluctuations and seek gains.

The rise in stablecoin usage is further evidenced by the top Bitcoin trading pairs on BTCTurk, which include BTC-USDT and BTC-TRY.

Economic Factors Driving Crypto Adoption

One of the primary reasons for the surge in crypto adoption is Turkey’s ongoing battle with double-digit inflation and currency devaluation. Over the past five years, the average inflation rate has exceeded 40%. In response, the central bank adopted an unconventional monetary policy, cutting rates until June 2023. However, this only exacerbated the devaluation of the Turkish Lira, which lost over 300% of its value from the end of 2020 to the end of 2023.

Turkey’s attempt to normalize its monetary policy after the 2023 elections failed to restore confidence in the TRY. The currency continued to depreciate in 2024, albeit at a slower pace.

Binance’s Dominance in Turkey

Amid these economic challenges, Binance has solidified its position as one of the top trading platforms for Turkish traders, thanks to its deep liquidity and low fees. The platform’s zero-fee campaign for BTC-TRY trading from July 2022 to March 2023 significantly boosted its popularity.

Binance’s strategy of offering a wide variety of TRY-denominated trading pairs and continuously adding new ones has helped it maintain its lead in the country, even during the 2022 crypto bear market. In 2024 alone, Binance introduced 61 new TRY trading pairs, bringing the total to over 200.

Although other exchanges like Gate.io, KuCoin, and OKX have entered the Turkish crypto market, their combined market share remains below 1%.