Damian Alvarez

The story of my crypto burger begins in 2023.



I had recently begun living in Ealing, West London and I was in love with my neighborhood. Ealing is known for its rich history of film and rock music, thanks to local pop culture powerhouses like Ealing Studios, The Rolling Stones, The Who and Queen’s Freddie Mercury. The place is steeped in very exciting cultural history, even though that history happened to take place in a quiet, leafy family suburb.&nbsp;



Now, the opening of a cryptocurrency-themed restaurant in this neighborhood in 2023 certainly raised some eyebrows. Was this a scam? Was this some sort of joke? Was this a front for a criminal enterprise? A short-lived pop-up shop with food only meant to be posted on Instagram?&nbsp;



No — it seemed Crypto Burgers meant serious business, and by that I mean they planned on serving the population of West London real, crypto-themed burgers.



After a month of deliberating on whether or not to check this place out, I deviated from my usual seven-minute drive down the road to the Broadway Mall to swing by. Because as a long-time PR professional, I just couldn’t resist taking an extra detour to drive past Crypto Burgers. Lo and behold, there it was.&nbsp;



I mean, it wasn’t much, just a small unassuming slab of tiling which had “Crypto Burgers” plastered on it in big yellow writing. But it was a real restaurant on St. Mary’s Road, just near Walpole Park and a stone’s throw away from Ealing Studios (which still produces films to this day like The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Death of Stalin and Murder on the Orient Express).&nbsp;



Confused but intrigued, I headed in to order myself a “Diamond Hands” burger, which is a meme I’ve always enjoyed engaging with, parroting my devotion to my assets no matter how foolhardy. The burger came with a side of “Bearish Fries” and a “Crypto Shake,” which was just a fancy way of putting bananas and Snickers together into a drink.



I asked the gentleman at the counter, quite forwardly, whether the store was legitimately interested in cryptocurrency or whether it was all a marketing play.&nbsp;



To my surprise, he replied that Crypto Burgers was actually inspired by a decade of its founders dabbling in crypto trading. I was taken aback —&nbsp;even though I myself am a true crypto fan, I had expected this gimmicky burger cafe to be more of a hype cash grab rather than a genuinely crypto-forward establishment.



I quickly followed this up by asking whether Crypto Burgers then actually took cryptocurrency payments and if so, what ones; again, to my surprise, Crypto Burgers claimed to accept BTC, ETH, USDC and USDT via the Lightning Network.



Now this was exciting. I considered paying for my food on-chain, but being pressed for time and too lazy to go through the motions despite being the only customer there, I paid with my debit card and got my meal.&nbsp;



Despite my functional understanding of the space through working in it — plus being friends with developers who build genuinely interesting applications — I chose to pay for this transaction in fiat. Aside from demonstrating my laziness that day, this suggests that the state of today’s infrastructure has not gone far enough in cultivating an effective user experience. What if I don’t hold any of those currencies? What if I hold different balances of various currencies across chains and want to cash them in together for my purchase?



Read more from our opinion section: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/farcaster-just-might-be-the-new-crypto-twitter">Farcaster just might be the new Crypto Twitter</a>



It’s no wonder that there is currently such an emphasis on curating user experience in crypto —&nbsp;I was standing in a restaurant where I could pay for my Crypto Burger with my crypto, and I opted to use fiat instead, despite having a strong crypto know-how and interest in crypto adoption.



My experience at Crypto Burger shows that cryptocurrencies clearly aren’t here (in their current form, at least) to replace traditional payment systems. But don’t let my first-world problem of not being able to easily buy a burger with crypto indicate that crypto’s development is futile.



There are plenty of people out there who aren’t able to access financial liquidity at all — utilizing cryptocurrency payments in cases where people are unbanked or are refugees could and should be more widespread, and perhaps just isn’t so much for people like me living in West London, trying to buy fast food.



While many things crypto seem to be more like fads or just keeping in trends like the introduction of the Solana phone (or launching a crypto-themed burger restaurant), certain elements over time do really prove their utility and are improved upon through countless attempts of reiterating pipelines or products. Blockchain technology can give anyone a platform, regardless of their banking status —&nbsp;it would be a nice sign to see more establishing choices to make provisions for crypto payments for those who genuinely lack other options.



Of course, cryptocurrencies have had their fair share of challenges regarding regulations and compliance, and these certainly should be taken well into consideration before the masses become more “<a href="https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2023/12/28/cypherpunk.html">cypherpunk</a>.” But it’s safe to say that taking a page out of Vitalik’s book might make a lot of sense, as it’s we, “the users,” that can and will shape not just the technology, but the experiences that come with it.&nbsp;



In doing so, hopefully a lot more of us can soon come to enjoy a crypto burger of our own.



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<div class="wp-block-post-author-biography">Damian Alvarez is a communications professional helping Web3 clients get their stories heard. He is currently the Head of Communications at Aori, an omni-chain logic layer that leverages off-chain data storage to enable high-frequency on-chain trading. He has worked at agencies such as Edelman and YAP Global to assist a variety of emerging and established clients to engage in industry-wide narratives surrounding technology. He may be contacted at damian@aori.io.</div>


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A cheeseburger gave me all the hope I need to stay in crypto

Andy Bromberg

The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of the bitcoin ETFs was rightfully cheered on by most of the crypto world. But as the dust settles, we need to ask ourselves: What do these instruments really mean for us?



ETF approval signals a step forward for Bitcoin and, more broadly, crypto’s legitimacy. It’s a huge boost on the path from a niche to a major sector.&nbsp;



But it also makes us more reliant on traditional financial institutions — exactly the ones that the technology was meant to free us from.



Now, it’s crucial for our industry to pivot. We need to take this enthusiasm and turn it into something more: encouraging genuine, self-custodial asset ownership, giving people access to the true benefits of crypto. This technology is about much more than just its price.



Just like how the existence of gold ETFs doesn’t invalidate the importance of gold itself —&nbsp;in jewelry, electronics and more —&nbsp;the advent of these bitcoin ETFs don’t in any way diminish the necessity of building real products with crypto.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Is crypto losing its soul?</h2>



When I co-founded the Stanford Bitcoin Group in 2013, I was captivated by one of Bitcoin’s core promises: the empowerment of owning and controlling your own money. Bitcoin is, like physical cash, a bearer instrument. Your control over it isn’t subject to anyone else’s approval.&nbsp;



But these ETFs, even with all their benefits, boil down to simple financial tools, the same as all the rest created by the traditional finance industry. You hand over control of your money to someone else in order to get exposure to an asset class.&nbsp;



While this is still good for the crypto industry, it steers people away from the primary goal of disintermediating centralized financial control and empowering individuals.



Read more from our opinion section: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-clean-energy-etfs">Bitcoin ETFs could actually be good for the environment</a>



ETFs strip away all the incredible utility of bitcoin, leaving only the price. But what makes bitcoin truly fascinating is its vision: its peer-to-peer, decentralized nature, not just its price.&nbsp;



Satoshi Nakamoto didn&#8217;t dream up bitcoin just to create another stock to trade. They saw a whole new way of dealing with money — a system without the middlemen, where people could transact directly with one another. A peer-to-peer electronic cash system.



As bitcoin gains more popularity, it&#8217;s crucial to remember these fundamental principles. The essence of crypto isn&#8217;t just in its financial value, but in its potential to revolutionize how we perceive and engage with money.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The dangers of centralization</h2>



The rise of bitcoin ETFs is already leading to some consolidation of BTC ownership by a few institutional players and their custody providers.



Just a couple weeks after its launch, BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF is now managing around <a href="https://www.ishares.com/us/products/333011/ishares-bitcoin-trust">49,000 bitcoins</a>. If those were all in the same address, that would make the address the <a href="https://bitinfocharts.com/top-100-richest-Bitcoin-addresses.html">fifteenth largest holder</a> of bitcoin already. If this trend persists, it could result in the concentration of significant bitcoin holdings in the hands of a few financial giants.



Read more from our opinion section: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-etf-missing-the-point">Let’s be real: Bitcoin ETFs have never really mattered</a>



In the first block of the Bitcoin blockchain, Satoshi encoded a message: “Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.” It’s impossible to know for sure what exactly they meant, but many believe it to be a reference that Bitcoin was intended — as a technology —&nbsp;to mitigate the pitfalls of centralized financial institutions and the societal risks that come with them.&nbsp;



But here, a decade and a half later, we’re seeing a movement towards those very same institutions controlling huge chunks of bitcoin’s supply.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Upholding crypto’s values</h2>



So, how do we maintain the true spirit of this technology?



First, we should focus on building products that are as straightforward to use as buying a bitcoin ETF through a brokerage account. If we are to fulfill the vision of a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, we need to lower the barrier to entry as much as possible. There is a pressing need for accessible, self-custodial products that provide users true ownership over their money.



Second, we need to educate newcomers about the true value of this technology.&nbsp;



With the influx drawn in by the ETFs, many will be fixated on the price, and won’t work to understand the underlying potential. We, as an industry, must articulate the broader significance of crypto, ensuring that new users see what it can do — beyond just market speculation.



The bitcoin ETFs are a powerful force, and we should capitalize on them. They will bring new market participants and increased attention.



At this crossroads, it&#8217;s up to us in the crypto industry to steer the ship. We need to make sure that as bitcoin and other digital assets step into the limelight, we don&#8217;t lose sight of what made them revolutionary in the first place. Now&#8217;s the time to get back to work and ramp up our efforts in building and promoting products that are true to the technology’s core vision. 



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<div class="wp-block-post-author-biography">Andy Bromberg is CEO of Beam and Contributor to the Eco Protocol. Eco has raised more than $90 million from an array of leading investors, including a16z Crypto, L Catterton, Activant Capital, Founders Fund, Pantera Capital, and others. Prior to Eco, Andy was Co-founder and President of CoinList. Andy is also a founding board member at FreeWorld, a non-profit seeking to end institutionalized poverty in the United States by providing access to living-wage jobs for people with criminal histories. He studied Mathematics and Computer Science at Stanford University and co-founded the Stanford Bitcoin Group.</div>


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Bitcoin ETFs are not crypto’s finish line

Chris Brooks

Crypto scams represent a crisis, and if we move out of a bear market and into a bull market, the scams will come roaring back.&nbsp;



Even though the Chainalysis 2023 Crypto Crime Report showed that revenue from crypto scams in 2022 dropped from 2021, this by no means signifies that we’ve turned a corner and that current efforts to make scamming unprofitable are working.&nbsp;



To put that report in context, you have to consider that the price of bitcoin dropped from a high of almost $69,000 in 2021 to a low of less than $16,000 in 2022. The number of scams could have quadrupled in 2022, and the value of those scams would remain less than in 2021. Additionally, many people burned by scams in 2021 have likely left the crypto industry, at least until the next boom. As a final note, when crypto prices are falling, it is much more difficult for scammers to convince their marks that they are making fantastic returns.&nbsp;



Plus, even though losses in 2022 were less than in 2021, let’s not miss the overall shape of the curve: The FTC <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spotlight/2022/06/reports-show-scammers-cashing-crypto-craze">reported</a> that losses to crypto scams in 2021 were 60 times larger than in 2018.&nbsp;



There’s no doubt that the increasing value and market interest in crypto has made taking advantage of the industry a lucrative opportunity for cybercriminals. But don’t make the mistake of dismissing crypto scam victims as stupid: These scams are sophisticated, and the scammers have perfected their game through trial and error. New tools like OpenAI and other LLMs will also make scammers’ pitches more convincing and credible.



Instead, the blame behind the scams lies in the widely perpetuated idea that crypto users should be the only ones in charge of their own money.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">&#8216;Not your keys, not your coins&#8217; is just not right</h2>



“Not your keys, not your coins” (NYKNYC) is a slogan attributed to Andreas Antonopoulos that has been used to dissuade token holders from storing their bitcoin in custodial exchanges. In the first 10 years of Bitcoin’s existence, many exchanges (like Mt Gox and Coincheck) were hacked out of business — at that time, it did genuinely seem like a security risk to use a crypto exchange.&nbsp;



However, the NYKNYC motto has now taken on a larger significance, essentially suggesting that one of the foundational values of crypto is that individuals should be solely responsible for the security of their tokens.



It’s this broader interpretation that I find increasingly irrelevant, especially because:&nbsp;



<ul>
<li>Exchanges have dramatically improved their security;</li>



<li>Insurance products are playing a larger role in securing exchange wallets;</li>



<li>Many of the largest recent hacks have actually been against smart contracts and DeFi platforms where individuals were using self-custody wallets</li>
</ul>



When the “not your keys” advice is wielded against scam victims, it’s particularly ridiculous. These are people who willingly sent tokens to scammers: whether they sent tokens from custodial accounts or non-custodial wallets is moot.&nbsp;



If you really believe that individuals should be solely responsible for their crypto, ask yourself these questions:&nbsp;&nbsp;



<ul>
<li>Have you personally audited the source code of the open-source self-custody wallets that you use? Or do you just rely on the idea that someone else has audited it?</li>



<li>Have you personally audited the open-source smart contracts which power the decentralized exchanges that you frequent? Or do you just rely on the idea that someone else has?&nbsp;</li>



<li>Have you even researched whether the wallets you use are open vs. closed source, or decided not to use a closed-source wallet because you can&#8217;t audit it?&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What is to be done?</h2>



The ever-increasing sophistication of scammers is a challenge for local law enforcement, who do not have the training or the funding to investigate cryptocurrency crimes properly — especially as crypto scams largely happen outside the system of legal protections and regulated financial institutions that work to safeguard customers.



Read more from our opinion section: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/privacy-dao-governance">Without privacy, DAO governance fails</a>



And tracing the global network of the criminals behind fraud poses significant challenges for both law enforcement and investigators alike. As a result, they are often unlikely to pursue the case because they do not clearly understand the actual crime or have a real-world entity to pursue. 



But while most of the loudest responses to this crisis call for investing in education, we must face the reality that educating people about the risks isn&#8217;t cutting it. In other words, education only protects the most sophisticated investors. The people we really need to protect and offer support to are those victims whose instinct to trust kicks in before their instinct to be skeptical does.&nbsp;



The industry either needs to come up with ways to slow the spread of scams and hacks or they can expect regulators to get involved with poorly thought-out solutions. Politicians, legislators and regulators already advocate that crypto is synonymous with fraud, and their responses to date have involved restricting crypto. The answer isn’t to clamp down, but to find ways to ensure that the least sophisticated users are protected.&nbsp;



Whether we like it or not, the foundational tools that we use in crypto require trust — trust that other people have done their job correctly.&nbsp;



If we want to bring a billion users into crypto, every player in the industry has to acknowledge that we should be doing more to make &#8220;not your keys, not your coins&#8221; a description of the bad old days rather than a prescription for the future.



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<div class="wp-block-post-author-biography">Chris Brooks founded CryptoAssetRecovery.com in 2017 to help digital asset owners recover lost assets. Chris was a programmer at Fidelity Investments, VP of Technology at venture-backed Carescout (which sold to GenWorth, a spinoff of General Electric) and has founded and sold three bootstrapped internet companies. </div>


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If you care about crypto adoption, ‘not your keys, not your coins’ is a disaster

Alex Gray

<figure class="wp-block-table is-style-stripes"><table><tbody><tr><td>This is part three of our three part series on communication in cryptocurrency, touching on what Web3 does well — and what Web3 does not so well —&nbsp;in communicating its messages to the wider world. You can find part one on <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/web3-communication-jargon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Web3 language barriers here</a>, and part two on <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-communication-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">communication crises here</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>



I’m relatively new to cryptoland, I will admit that at the top.&nbsp;



In some respects, my newness would be a disservice to my ability to volley valid opinions. But in others, I would argue that my fresh eyes provide the opportunity for unbiased perspective.&nbsp;



When I departed traditional finance, I thought I was heading to the land of decentralization for the greater good, a land with an undeterrable focus on equality, an unbreakable vow to shatter the system that was burdened with centuries of cultural tech debt and flaws. Huzzah! I said.



I write today to express my disappointment. It’s exceedingly difficult to argue that there has been any legitimate attempt to break the system, when the foundation of cryptoland is so clearly colonial. It was a house with good bones for keeping people out, and we moved in and changed the wallpaper.



I lived in the traditional finance house for long enough to get the size of it. I wore neutral nail polish and sensible heels; I have tried on roughly 400 pairs of black dress pants (half of which fit too poorly and half of which fit too nicely). I have owned (gasp) a logo-emblazoned vest. I know what it means to require that everyone fit neatly into a box that’s shaped like a man, and I know what it feels like when no one is really trying to fix it.



Crypto’s mission was so wholesome: Free ourselves from the shackles of archaic technology and geopolitical agendas and all of the history and bad blood that comes with it.&nbsp;



Unfortunately, the shackles were just moved from one wrist to the other.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">A history of boys’ clubs</h2>



I believe you when you say you didn’t realize that the fabric of society paved the way for you to become a part of the problem.&nbsp;



But history shows us that the issues I find in crypto have already been around for a long, long time.



If you can bear with me back to World War II, the deployment of our nation’s male youth meant non-traditional roles for women —&nbsp;like computer science tasks. But while the ladies’ willingness to help with the button pushing was applauded, when the men went home after the war, so did the women.&nbsp;



By 1970, clamoring for social change was bearing real fruit and 14% of all <a href="https://www.computerscience.org/resources/women-in-computer-science/">computer science degrees</a> were held by women. But women didn’t have the privilege of exhibiting behavior that may have been conceived as “weird” or “rude,” meaning that a generation of female computer geniuses may have run away from discrimination at computer science programs and jobs as fast as they could.



The 90’s ushered in the era of big personalities with big ambitions (ahem, Peter Thiel) creating a new profile that sticks: what a genius tech founder should be like. And what’s the only thing that’s worse than a woman being rude? A woman being confident. That paired with the fact women are broadly more risk averse, a funded female founder was then (and still is) very hard to come by. But if it helps you sleep, the percentage of women with computer science degrees was up to 35%.&nbsp;



Cruising right along, the dot com bubble burst in 2001-ish and instead of saying, “Hey maybe an entire industry fueled by male narcissism was a problem, where are the ladies at?” we said “yo bring the bro nerds back.”&nbsp;



May I introduce you all to Silicon Valley. An ego was certainly still a prerequisite, but you got bonus points if you exuded the brand of awkward that’s often contrived as male genius. The pitch decks for women seeking funding were campfire fodder for lavish VC work retreats.&nbsp;



Oh by the way, the percentage of computer science degrees held by women was down to 18% by 2022. Oops.



At every single acceleration point for technological advancement, we have witnessed a relabeling and repackaging of the underlying culture we are supposed to be grateful to for such successes. Time and time again, the underlying message is clear: technology is a toy for boys. Crypto is no different.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Where to go from here</h2>



It is clear to see how we got to where we are today, and the resulting lack of women in cryptoland is frankly understandable; you can’t build a diverse team if the talent doesn’t exist. But what is unacceptable is continuing to use traditional finance’s gatekeeping playbook.&nbsp;



Traditional finance is exceptional at making sure only the select few understand how it all works; they never tried to include women, and it’s the cornerstone of wealth inequality. Let’s be different.&nbsp;



Can we also have the tenacity to say our failings out loud?



If I said to someone: “Well, crypto is not really that different from traditional finance, is it?”&nbsp;



The initial bad reaction I’d get is likely a defense of decentralized finance’s values, but a secondary reaction may very well be about the allegedly superior culture.&nbsp;



We’re not content to accept slow passive evolution on the back of reinvesting stable corporate profits! We’re changing the world! Okay. Let’s change it for everyone.&nbsp;



It’s time to stop playing dead and dumb when it comes to the lack of diversity in talent pipelines. Not to be hyperbolic, but our society still doesn’t think women can do STEM. It permeates our entire existence, starting with children’s toys and the infection only spreads from there. It’s a seemingly impossible problem, but we are a powerful community and that comes with responsibility. Let’s rise to the occasion.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



It is from experience when I tell you: Cryptoland will embody hypocrisy for as long as we pretend like inclusion is a core tenet of the community.&nbsp;



If you say you want this community to be different from traditional finance, prove it.



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<div class="wp-block-post-author-biography">Alex Gray leads the Finance team at Blockworks. Before Blockworks she took a tour through traditional finance, visiting: corporate banking, bank balance sheet management, equity research, and fintech.

She feels most grateful when she is solving hard problems, running lots of miles, and reading long books. She knows more about baseball than you do. </div>


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Exclusive, Divisive, Unwelcoming: Yes, This Is Crypto for Women

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_60e88245b0107" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Study also showed the number of women who trade cryptocurrencies also increased and doubled from 20% last year to 40% as of this year</li>
 <li>The research also concluded that satisfaction across generations differed with millennials leading the way </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The rate of people in Turkey who completed transactions with cryptocurrency is up 11 times on year, according to data from cryptocurrency trading platform <a href="https://www.paribu.com/">Paribu</a>.&nbsp;



The previous rate of crypto usage was 0.7% last year, up 1000% to 7.7% as of this year, the data shows in comparison to Paribu’s previously conducted survey from 2020.&nbsp;



“In a year, the interest in crypto money has increased significantly,” said Paribu CEO Yasin Oral, in response to the results. “Both the communication activities of the platforms and the activity in cryptocurrencies had an impact on this. We see that Turkey has the potential to play a leading role in cryptocurrencies.”&nbsp;



The <a href="https://www.paribu.com/blog/haberler/paribu-en-kapsamli-kripto-para-arastirmasinin-sonuclarini-acikladi-turkiyede-kripto-para-kullanimi-11-kat-artti/">data results</a> of the “Crypto Money Awareness and Perception Research-2021,” which was conducted by Akademetre Research Company on behalf of Paribu, showed substantial growth in the Middle Eastern country’s crypto industry.&nbsp;



While interest is on the rise, in April, the Turkish government announced it would ban payments in bitcoin and citizens could own cryptocurrencies, but not use them, Blockworks previously <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/turkey-bans-crypto-as-form-of-payment-bitcoin-price-drops/">reported</a>. Digital asset exchanges were also banned from operating in the country.&nbsp;



While total crypto transactions were up on the year, the study also showed the number of women who trade cryptocurrencies also increased and doubled from 20% last year to 40% as of this year.&nbsp;



Bitcoin is the most preferred cryptocurrency by users in Turkey with 7 out of 10 market participants saying they trade BTC, compared to ether, which only 2 out of every 10 people trade, the data showed.&nbsp;



The research also concluded that satisfaction across generations differed. Millennials born from 1981 to 1996 were the most satisfied at 76.2%, followed by Generation X, those born from 1965 to 1980, with 75.9% and Generation Z, 1997 to 2012 with 58.3%.&nbsp;



However, the survey said trust in the crypto industry has fallen in the country from 34.2% as of last year to 25.3% this year, due various cryptocurrency bans by the Turkish government.&nbsp;



Volatility and risk are the two main reasons for the ban, according to the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, which said that cryptocurrencies are not subject to regulation or supervision by a central regulatory authority, wallets can be stolen, transactions are irrevocable, and they may be used for illegal actions due to their anonymous structure.



Turkish interest in bitcoin also grew as citizens feared the country could be heading for another currency crisis, Blockworks also previously <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/turkish-bitcoin-interest-spikes-after-lira-devaluation-capital-controls/">reported</a>.&nbsp;



As a result of this, some platforms caused “user grievances” in April, Oral said and the ban reflected negatively on the research results. Regardless, interest in cryptocurrency continues to rise in Turkey and in order to gain full trust there needs to be further regulation, Oral said.

bitcoin adoption