Reuters: Turkey’s new encryption regulations may focus on licensing and taxation

Turkish industry officials said new cryptocurrency regulations may focus on licensing and taxation. Bora Erdamar, director of Blockchain IST, a blockchain technology research and development center, said that introducing certain permission standards will be one of the top priorities of the new regulations and will prevent the system from being abused. Regulations may also include capital adequacy requirements and measures to strengthen digital security, custody services and proof of reserves. It is reported that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will include Turkey in the "grey list" for money laundering and financial crime risks in 2021. Turkey is preparing new legislation covering crypto assets in an effort to convince the FATF to remove them from the list. According to a report by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, Turkey ranks fourth in the world in terms of raw crypto trading volume, at about $170 billion last year, behind the United States, India and the United Kingdom. (Reuters) According to previous news in October, Turkey’s official gazette recently released the 2024 presidential annual plan, which aims to complete the country’s encryption regulations within the next year. In the nearly 500-page document, Section 400.5 reveals planned research into defining crypto-assets that may then be appropriately taxed. Cryptoasset providers, i.e. cryptocurrency exchanges, will also be given their legal definition. However, the document contains no other details of future regulations.