Few men have the courage to take bold action. Rare is the brave soul who stays true to his convictions when a thousand voices attempt to lead him astray. The greatest leader of 2021 was without a doubt Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of Turkey and the temporarily dispossessed Ottoman Empire.
While it is true that the typical spendthrift Turk has not typically been keen on cryptocurrencies, his interest was more than a tad bit piqued in 2021 by Mr. Erdogan. Inflation struck Turkey after COVID-19, reaching 21% near the end of 2021, the primary cause being the treasonous Gulenist pig-dogs and too-high interest rates set by bumbling central bankers. The great Lira, the coin of the Sultanate’s realm, plummeted to the lowest rate against the dollar in its history in November.
Meeker men might cower from bond markets in one of the 1,100 rooms of the new Turkish presidential palace but not Erdogan. Striking back at the “interest-rate lobby” and foreign enemies of the Empire, he bravely fired the third traitorous central bank governor in three years. In his battles with the bond vigilantes and the Kurds, he was able to rid the central bank of two deputy central bank governors recently, ceasing the flow of poison from their mouths.
The old adage that “good help is so hard to find” has never rang more true than at the Republican Central Bank of Turkey. A string of betrayals from central bank governors since 2019 caused great pain to the heart of Osman, requiring their dismissal in the “economic war of independence” that Erdogan proclaimed. The meddlesome hand of Gulen was spied by the Grey Wolves, grasping in its attempt to force a raise in interest rates.
“On the night of Ascension I came upon people whose stomachs were like houses with snakes visible from the outside. I asked Gabriel who they were. He replied that they were people who had received interest.”
Ibn Majah, Kitab al-Tijarat, Bab al-taghlizi fi al-riba; also in Musnad Ahmad
Erdogan had one more trick up his sleeve. His government announced a brilliant scheme never before attempted in modern finance; to compensate any Lira deposits older than three months against any falls in the value of the currency. The extra $7 billion in Lira deposits that suddenly appeared from state-owned banks reversed the slide of the currency against the U.S. Dollar and showed the world that the spirit of the mighty Bashi-Bazouk is still alive and fearsome.
With a resounding Ottoman Slap he has put to rest any doubts of his firm and determined control of the Lira and the unruly central bank.
Like the benevolent shepherd ensuring his flock never want for food, Erdogan’s tenderness shone through in his recent raises in the minimum wage. Combining this with the lower interest rates he is demanding and finally getting from his central bank governor, he expects inflation to subside in the coming months.
The result is a massive surge in cryptocurrency usage in Turkey according to Reuters and data from Chainalysis and Kaiko. The heavily dollarized country is already used to holding dollar-denominated debts and currency as a hedge against exchange rate volatility and so the natural next step, especially with recent inflation in the U.S., is a greater move into cryptocurrencies by the resourceful Turk. In terms of volatility Bitcoin is now more stable than the Lira, adding to its attractiveness.
We applaud the steel resolve of Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the face of doubters and naysayers. There are always those who dare to stand up to orthodoxy and make the world a better place as a result. We honor you with our first Crypto Pioneer Award.