Turkey’s Erdogan should learn a bit of history before declaring war on cryptocurrencies. 1 USD = 9 Lira in 1969 but 1 USD = 1,350,000 Lira in 2005.

They say “Before you start a war, you’d better know what you’re fighting for”. What has he got as his weapon?

The economy of Turkey is the 20th largest in the world, however it suffers from chronic inflation. Here are the history of the Turkish lira.

Data taken from the fxtop website:

1960s: 1 USD = 9 Lira

1970: 1 USD = 11.30 Lira

1975: 1 USD = 14.40 Lira

1980: 1 USD = 80 Lira

1985: 1 USD = 500 Lira

1990: 1 USD = 2,500 Lira

1995: 1 USD = 43,000 Lira

2000: 1 USD = 620,000 Lira

2001: 1 USD = 1,250,000 Lira

2005: 1 USD = 1,350,000 Lira

The Guiness record book even listed the Lira as the world’s least valuable currency in 1995, 1996 and 1999 to 2004.

There were so many zeros that Turkey passed a law to remove the last 6 zeros to create a new currency, the new Lira.

But the story doesn’t end here, the second Lira has been doing a poor job as well.

2005: 1 USD = 1.344 TRY

2015: 1 USD = 2.720 TRY

2020: 1 USD = 7.023 TRY

2021-06: 1 USD = 8.581 TRY

So in a mere 15 years, the second new lira lost 85% of its value again. Bloomberg reported that the Turkish lira is one of the quickest collapsing currency in 2021.

See the theme? A dictator trying to protect his fiat currency. Another Venezuela in hindsight.

Wake up and see how cryptocurrencies can help your country, Mr Erdogan. Don’t end up like Venezuela.