Strict regulations: Turkey puts a ban on cryptocurrency

The Turkish government has put a ban on cryptocurrencies in the country; making it illegal for digital currency holders to use their crypto for payments. Not only does the regulation limit the use of cryptocurrency, but it also bans payments service providers from offering fiat exchanges for cryptocurrency exchanges in the country.

The Central Bank of Turkey’s crypto ban

According to the announcement made at the end of the week, the ban will kick off the strict regulations on April 30th, at which time any and all cryptocurrency payments platforms and partnerships in the country will be made illegal.

According to the bank, there will be a ban on “any direct or indirect usage of crypto assets in payment services and electronic money issuance”. The announcement outlined:

“Crypto assets cannot be used directly or indirectly for payments… No service can be provided for direct or indirect use of crypto assets in payments… Payment service providers cannot develop business models in a way that crypto assets are used directly or indirectly in the provision of payment services and electronic money issuance, and cannot provide any services related to such business models.”

Banks excluded from the ban

The announcement made an exception to banks, which are excluded from the regulation. This means that investors can deposit their fiat currencies (the Turkish Lira) on cryptocurrency exchanges through wired transactions from their bank, but the platform and exchanges will not be able to offer returns or deposits and withdrawal services. As it stands, there is a wide case of payments platforms and digital wallets in use in Turkey which transacts crypto to fiat and fiat to crypto. This ban means that this will be shut down, and gives users two weeks to resolve their cryptocurrency holdings. This ban has been in talks for some months now, and last month the Ministry of Finance in the country noted that it would be putting regulations in place to monitor crypto use.