Turkish Authorities in the Final Stage of Technical Work on Crypto Regulations
Turkey’s Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has revealed that the government is almost through with regulations related to cryptocurrency as they are in the final stage of the technical work.
Şimşek noted the increasing interest in platforms providing services related to buying and selling cryptocurrencies, prompting various risks due to both abuses on some platforms and excessive price movements.
“Therefore, we are taking steps to reduce the risks of parties transacting 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. It is one of the steps we need to take,” said Şimşek.
Turkey’s apex bank and Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) have established regulations providing information like transactions and transfers taking place on the platforms, but Şimşek said they need more than those to address the challenges.
Hence, they are considering foreign practices in countries that have adopted approaches relevant to their own financial and legal systems in terms of cryptocurrency assets, thereby providing clarity on regulatory steps required.
The upcoming regulations will require crypto asset trading platforms to obtain licenses from the Capital Markets Board of Turkey (CMB) and will impose minimum operating conditions like financial institutions.
It will define crypto asset, wallet, crypto asset service provider, crypto asset custody service and crypto asset buying and selling platform in line with global regulations. However, the regulation will not focus on tax for now, but another study will be carried out to handle it.