Hundreds and thousands of Turkish citizens are in shock. On Monday, they received electronic foreclosure notices that deprive them of access to their bank accounts. The dangers of financial centralization are real.
The Turkish economy is in dire straits and the citizens are feeling the consequences. Close to 3.3 million bank accounts received these notices. What’s worse is that it happened at the beginning of the month when the companies are usually paying out salaries. People are facing true financial hardships.
The problem deepens as many of the Turkish citizens had received a promise of debt restructuring. YEP, the new economic program was the one to contain such a relief plan. But it seems like the plan has fallen through.
According to a tax expert Nedim Türkmen, 2.5 million accounts received the foreclosures. Moreover, the government froze 800,000 accounts that have outstanding social security debt.
Commenting on the development, user Stackmore’s Tweet criticized the decision. He pointed out the disproportional nature of the decision. “Let’s say you owe 5$ worth of stuff, they can block your whole account on all banks no matter how much capital you have in them. It’s absurd,” he noted.
It’s time for Bitcoin to shine
The story is an unfriendly reminder of why decentralized monetary systems like Bitcoin are important. For one, they are non-governmental in nature, meaning that no country out there can decide your financial fate out of the blue. More so, the authorities have no way of freezing your financial assets–an event that happens relatively often.
To that end, the Winklevoss brothers also noted in their April interview that one of the reasons why they entered the crypto scene had to do with the 2012-2013 Financial Crisis in Cyprus. The Cypriot government’s decision not to bail out the banks bothered the twins. That’s when they decided to take on the centralization of money.
Besides, Bitcoin helps countries to deal with inflation, including in Turkey. Last year, its currency, the Lira, lost a fifth of its value. Back then, young Turks started investing in cryptocurrency.
Such a serious blow might once again force the Turkish to turn to Bitcoin. If that is the case, then its price is likely to go up again. Currently, the mother-of-all-crypto is trading slightly above $8,000.
