Brazilian companies turned to stablecoins on election day to dodge a currency crash
Source: CoinDesk ·
From the source
USDT volume on crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin jumped nearly 800% and bitcoin volume surged 865%. Binance’s USDT/BRL market tripled while the global BTC/USDT pair fell. Brazilian companies entered a crypto trading frenzy on Sunday to protect their treasuries from the outcome of an election that saw incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, unexpectedly beat Flávio Bolsonaro. Corporate accounts generated 78% of trading on crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin, with turnover in Tether’s dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDT, jumping nearly 800% from the week before and more than triple the average of the four preceding Sundays. Trading in bitcoin BTC $84.459,46 surged 865% compared with the previous Sunday, the exchange said. Lula’s platform of increased social spending and a ban on online betting that would reduce tax income sparked concerns the country’s finances would suffer if he won, adding to pressure on the real and keeping borrowing costs high. Rising debt, new spending…