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The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has notched new all-time highs against some of the world’s most inflationary fiat currencies.

Across 30 hours over Oct. 23 to 24, the cost of buying one Bitcoin has reached all time-highs when using the Argentine peso, Nigerian naira, Turkish lira, Laotian kip and the Egyptian pound.

However, it should be noted that the result is due to the ongoing devaluation of the currencies, exacerbated by Bitcoin’s recent 16% price increase.

The naira and lira fell to their lowest points against the United States dollar on Oct. 24 and Oct. 25, while the peso is only 0.85% off its all-time low (against the U.S. dollar).

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Venezuelan bolivar currently has the highest annual inflation rate at 360%, followed by the Zimbabwean dollar (314%), Sudanese pound (256%) and the Argentine oesi (122%).

The Turkish lira and Nigerian naira came in sixth and 15th with annual inflation rates of 51% and 25%, respectively, IMF’s data shows.

Heat map of countries in the world with corresponding annual inflation rates. Source: IMF

Crypto observers have long seen digital assets, such as Bitcoin and stablecoins, as a hedge against rocketing inflation — and recent figures could bolster that narrative.

Nigeria, Turkey and Argentina boast the second, 12th and 15th highest rates of cryptocurrency adoption worldwide, according to a Sept. 12 report by Chainalysis.

However, the governments of these countries haven’t always seen eye-to-eye with the cryptocurrency industry. 

Nigeria is finally becoming more welcoming to cryptocurrencies after its central bank banned local banks from providing services to cryptocurrency exchanges in February 2021.

Progress was made in December 2022 when Nigeria announced its intention to pass a bill recognizing cryptocurrencies as “capital for investment,” citing the need to keep up with “global practices” as one of the main reasons behind its change in stance.

And while Turkey is home to some of the most crypto-curious people, its central bank banned cryptocurrency payments for goods and services in April 2021. It has also been working on a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to digitalize the Turkish lira in recent years.

Meanwhile, Argentina’s inflation crisis could be influenced by the outcome of its presidential election in November, with presidential candidate Javier Milei set to face competitor Sergi Massa in a final run-off vote on Nov. 19.

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Massa, who currently serves as the country’s minister of economy, wants Argentina to launch a CBDC “as soon as possible” to “solve” the country’s long-lasting inflation crisis.

He has also voiced an intention to keep the U.S. dollar away from Argentinians, explaining that Argentinians should instead be “patriots” and defend the Argentine peso.

Milei, on the other hand, wants the U.S. dollar to be adopted in addition to abolishing Argentina’s central bank.

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