Turkey completes drafting of cryptocurrency regulation bill.

The Turkish Finance Ministry and Treasury announced the completion of work on the cryptocurrency regulation bill. Parliament will consider the document in October 2021, according to Sabah.

Deputy minister Cakir Erkan Gul stated that the authors drew on the experience of Europe and the United States, but emphasized \”a tougher framework\”. He said the bill aims to protect investors and curb the use of digital currencies in illicit activity.

The document defines types of crypto assets, provides for the introduction of a tax, sets out conditions for custodian services, and imposes minimum capital requirements on industry-linked companies. The latter will be supervised by the Turkish Capital Markets Board.

The Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency will create consumer protections and market integrity mechanisms, the report notes. It will provide a grace period to industry participants.

“Prohibitions tend to apply to countries with democracy problems. In Western Europe and America there are free mechanisms. We are introducing somewhat tighter regulation,” said Gul.

On April 20, the Turkish exchange Thodex unexpectedly stopped trading, citing first technical work, and then the transfer of the platform to a new partner.

The company’s CEO, Faruk Fatih Özer, was declared a fugitive. Later the court arrested six people linked to Thodex, including relatives of the platform’s head.

On April 26, due to financial difficulties the Vebitcoin exchange ceased operations.

After this it became known that Turkey plans to create a centralized custodian bank to mitigate counterparty risk in the digital-asset space.

The head of the country’s central bank, Şahap Kavcıoğlu, also announced the imminent introduction of cryptocurrency regulation.

In May, Turkey’s finance minister Lütfi Elvan said that local exchanges should notify the Financial Crimes Investigation Board about user operations exceeding the 10,000 lira limit (~$1200).

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