The demand for Bitcoin is soaring in Kazakhstan where the inflation rate has averaged 47.11% from 1992 until 2019.
According to data compiled by Coin.dance, crypto traders moved 71,476,515 Kazakhstani tenge (KZT) on peer-to-peer crypto trading platform LocalBitcoins for the week ending June 1, 2019, up 51.06% from 47,833,615 KZT the previous week.
Trading Economics reports that the inflation rate in Kazakhstan increased to 5.3% in May of 2019, up 8.16% from 4.9% in the previous month. It was the highest inflation rate since December 2018. Kazakhstan is one of several countries with rising or crippling inflation where people are turning to cryptocurrencies as store of value. Last month traders on LocalBitcoins broke BTC trading volume records in Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela.
As the appetite for Bitcoin grows in Kazakhstan, the country’s capital is moving to support more blockchain-based initiatives. The Astana Times reports financial hub Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) is partnering with Bitfury to develop infrastructure across several industries.
Bitfury, valued at $1 billion, is one of the largest private infrastructure providers in the blockchain ecosystem. The company, which recently announced the launch of a regulated Bitcoin mining fund, plans to open data centers as well as education and training programs in Kazakhstan in cooperation with city administrators in Nur-Sultan Akimat.
The tech giant just kicked off its fifth annual Blockchain Summit on Richard Branson’s Necker Island in an effort to build connections and foster more growth in the industry.
