title: Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu's Arrest Plunges Turkish Lira (TRY) to a Record Low, Crypto Exchanges See Trading Volume Surge

Crypto exchanges in Turkey saw an almost 29% surge in trading volume over the past 24 hours after the Turkish Lira (TRY) plunged to a record low

The Turkish Lira (TRY) plunged to a record low on Tuesday after the arrest of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rival, Ekrem İmamoğlu, sparking an almost 29% surge in trading volume on crypto exchanges in Turkey over the past 24 hours, according to data from Token Terminal.

Turkey’s largest crypto exchange BtcTurk saw the biggest increase in trading volume at 29%, followed by Paribu which saw a 23% surge in 24-hour trading volume.

The trading volume of Binance’s Turkey branch, Binance TR, also rose almost 24%, while the bitcoin-lira pair reportedly rose to the highest hourly trading volume across the past year.

Protests in Turkey today after the detention of Istanbul mayor and opposition leader Ekrem İmamoğlu.He is considered the main rival to current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in future elections. İmamoğlu was detained at home this morning on suspicion of corruption, running a criminal organization and inciting the people.

Ekrem İmamoğlu was arrested today while Turkey also restricted access to various social media platforms. The detention took place days before İmamoğlu was to be selected as a presidential candidate and was described as a “coup attempt” by the opposition.

Shortly after, the price of TRY fell by almost 13% to a record low of 42 per USD. Turkish citizens have turned to crypto for years as the Lira continues to fall in price.

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