The Government of Turkey has composed crypto regulation as has been confirmed by the country’s President himself that the law will very soon be taken up in the Parliamentary Session for debate and discussion and then will be enforced immediately thereafter. On the other hand, fines have been imposed upon one of the world’s largest global crypto trading platforms namely Binance over regulatory issues and have been directed to pay more than US$ 750K as a fine.
While talking to the local journalists, Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish premier told them that crypto regulations have been composed. He commented that a comprehensive law on digital currencies has been prepared. He also stated that Turkey cannot hold on to the matter of crypto regulation and wish to enforce the law as soon as possible.
The President’s crypto regulation announcement came at the moment when a Turkish regulator took enforcement action against a foreign crypto exchange. The action involved the Turkish Finance Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), which took the action. The crypto firm, which had to ultimately face the consequences, was Binance i.e. globally leading crypto trading platform.
As was reported in the media, MASAK did a routine liability inspection of Binance and its operations. While inspection, MASAK found out that Binance was in violation of its liabilities towards MASAK. Resultantly, the authority had to impose a hefty fine upon Binance which demanded payment of 8 Million Lira (i.e. approximately US$ 750,000 plus). In the absence of an exclusive crypto supervisory authority, MASAK has been given the additional task of looking after the digital economy space.
After being informed that a fine to the tune of US$ 750,000 has been imposed upon Binance, the firm also issued a statement. In this statement, Binance Turkey informed that in Turkey it works closely in coordination with the regulators. It further stated that if there is a new policy or law that is amended, Binance ensures compliance in letter and spirit without objection. However, at no place in the statement, Binance Turkey gives an impression as if the decision of MASAK was bad. Or that the authority took a drastic measure that was unwarranted.
However, one thing is for sure which is that the Turkish President does not support the use of digital currencies in the country. In fact, he had openly objected to their presence in the Turkish financial system. For instance, in the month of September 2021, President Erodgan had said that he will be waging a war against digital currencies. Even the opposition political party to President Erodgan too is not in favor of cryptocurrencies’ adoption.
But the economic situation of Turkey is not good at all and in fact economy is deteriorating. Meanwhile, artificial boost has been provided to the economy, which the experts believe will not be enough to bring stability.
