Hassan, Wesam 
ORCID: 0000-0001-6863-1624
(2024)
In pursuit of stability? An ethnographic inquiry of cryptocurrency trading in Istanbul.
In: Wood, Donald C. and Swamy, Raja, (eds.)
Health, Money, Commerce, and Wealth: Anthropological Perspectives.
Research in Economic Anthropology (43).
Emerald Publishing, Leeds, UK, 23 - 42.
ISBN 9781835490341
Abstract
By drawing on 18-month ethnographic fieldwork conducted among people who participate in state-regulated games of chance in Istanbul, during the recent Turkish economic crisis in 2021-2022, and engaging with scholarly work on the anthropology of Turkey, economic anthropology and local media and grey resources, this article illustrates the rise of cryptocurrency trading in Turkey. This article shows howmy participants situated the cryptocurrency tradingwithin their own techniques to ameliorate financial volatility and to compensate their mistrust in governmental financial institutions during times of economic turbulence. Cryptocurrency trading was viewed as an investment technique that assists in accumulating savings for ensuring the future amid fluctuating national currency and polarized political realities. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency trading was also identified as a game of chance that swings between hinging on luck or skill, and the research participants debated if cryptocurrency trading is permissible in Islam (Halal) or forbidden.Therefore, this article suggests that cryptocurrency trading, although on the rise, is still a contested topic in which the boundaries between perceptions and practices of investing and gambling are blurredwithin the Turkish context. The controversy of the cryptocurrency trading emerges from the polarized public attitudes and the dissonance between traditional ideals, that condemn easy money and emphasize the value of hard work, in contrast to the neoliberal realities of capitalistic modes of accumulation that encourages speculation over production.
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | © 2024 by Emerald Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. |
| Divisions: | LSE |
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure H Social Sciences > HG Finance |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Mar 2025 11:21 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Mar 2025 17:22 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/127589 |
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