After Turkey’s regulatory officials finished making a new set of laws about digital assets, international cryptocurrency exchanges are rushing to get a piece of the country’s growing crypto market.
The Capital Markets Board of Turkey, which is the country’s financial regulator and supervisory body, says that 47 crypto platforms have already sent in applications to register their services. Significant global sites like Binance, Bitfinex, and OKX are among the applicants. The regulator did warn, though, that these submissions do not mean that the business is officially allowed to run in the country.
Turkey’s Crypto Regulation Surge
Following the passage of a crypto bill by Turkish lawmakers under the leadership of ruling party leader Abdullah Güler, there has been an increase in applications. All cryptocurrency exchanges that want to legally work in Turkey must get a license from the Capital Markets Board. Failure to do so will result in harsh punishment. Under the new law, exchanges that offer trading services without permission could be fined up to $182,600 and sent to jail for three to five years.
The law also says that crypto service providers have to follow and report legal steps taken by the government, like seizing assets. Additionally, they must guarantee that the Turkish government can fully access and track all customer fund movements, such as deposits and withdrawals.
Turkey wants to regulate its cryptocurrency market because it wants to become a significant center for cryptocurrency in the Middle East. Chainalysis, a blockchain forensics company, says that Turkey received a staggering $170 billion in crypto transactions in 2022, putting it in fourth place in the world.
It is worth noting that U.S.-based exchanges like Coinbase and Gemini are not on the list of candidates for the Turkish market. It does, however, include platforms like Whitebit and well-known local companies like BTCTurk. This shows that the market is broad and competitive, even as Turkey tightens its grip on the quickly growing sector.
