Turkey plans to craft crypto framework in 2024

Crypto asset providers, such as crypto exchanges, will also be given a legal definition.

The 2024 Turkish Presidential Annual Program, published on Oct. 25 in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey, aims to finalize crypto regulations in the country within the calendar year of 2024. 

Article 400.5 of the almost 500-page document reveals the planned studies to define crypto assets, which might be taxed appropriately afterward. Crypto asset providers, such as crypto exchanges, will also be given a legal definition. However, the document contains no other details on the future regulations.

In September 2023, the former CEO of Turkish crypto exchange Thodex, Faruk Fatih Özer, was sentenced to 11,196 years in prison by a Turkish court. Thodex, which was one of the largest trading platforms in the country, abruptly imploded in 2021.

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According to a 2022 study, Turkey was the second nation in the world in terms of crypto-related search requests, with 5.5% of the population making them. The country saw an elevenfold rise in crypto use in 2021 amid the ongoing inflation crisis of the local fiat currency, the Turkish lira.

In December 2022, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey completed the first trial of its central bank digital currency, the digital lira, and has signaled plans to continue testing throughout 2024. And while the government has still made no commitment to the ultimate digitalization of the country’s currency, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly supported the digital lira project.

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