Turkey’s Minister of Treasury and Finance, Mehmet Şimşek, has unveiled crucial details about the impending cryptocurrency regulations set to govern the Turkish market.
The government is actively working on legally defining vital cryptocurrency concepts, instituting licensing requirements for trading platforms, and adhering to the international standards outlined by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
In a recent interview with the Anadolu Agency on January 10, Şimşek confirmed that the framework for regulating cryptocurrencies in Turkey is nearing its finalization, with ongoing assessments of its technical implementation.
One of the central goals of these regulations is to minimize the risks associated with cryptocurrency trading for everyday investors, aligning Turkey’s practices with international norms. Şimşek emphasized,
“Therefore, we are taking steps to reduce the risks of parties trading with crypto assets in our country, similar to international practices.
This is also within the scope of FATF to get out of the gray list.”
The forthcoming guidelines will mandate that cryptocurrency platforms operating in Turkey acquire licenses from the country’s Capital Markets Board (CMB).
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Moreover, these regulations will provide precise legal definitions for key terms such as “crypto assets,” “crypto wallets,” “crypto asset service providers,” “crypto asset custody service,” and “crypto asset buying and selling platforms.”
As an example, Şimşek clarified the definition of crypto assets as “intangible assets that can be created and stored electronically using distributed ledger technology or a similar technology, distributed over digital networks, and capable of expressing value or rights.”
However, it’s worth noting that the regulations will not encompass the specific tax treatment of virtual assets.
Turkey has been contemplating cryptocurrency regulations for a considerable period, with a primary focus on licensing and taxation measures aimed at removing the country from FATF’s “grey list.”
Notably, according to data from the blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, Turkey ranked fourth globally in raw cryptocurrency transaction volumes between July 2022 and June 2023, with approximately $170 billion in crypto activity, trailing only the United States, India, and the United Kingdom in this regard.
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