Turkey added cryptocurrency trading platforms to the list of firms covered by anti-money laundering and terrorism financing regulation, it said in a presidential decree published early on Saturday.
The Official Gazette said the country’s latest expansion of rules governing cryptocurrency transactions would take immediate effect and cover “crypto asset service providers”, which would be liable to the existing regulations.
Last month Turkey’s central bank banned the use of crypto assets for payments on the grounds such transactions were risky. In the days that followed two Turkey-based cryptocurrency trading platforms were halted under separate investigations.
The probe into one of them, Thodex, led to the jailing on Thursday of six suspects including the siblings of its Chief Executive Faruk Fatih Ozer, who Turkish authorities are seeking after he travelled to Albania.
A ban on the use of crypto assets for payments, announced earlier this month, went into effect on Friday. Turkey’s central bank cited “irreparable” damage and transaction risks as reasons for the ban.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2021.
Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.
1714024018-0/ModiLara-(1)1714024018-0-270x192.webp)
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ