More Crypto Regulations on Their Way, Says Head of Turkish Central Bank

A  few days ago, the Turkish Central Bank imposed a complete ban on cryptocurrency payments. Now, the head of Turkey’s Central Bank said that a wide range of new rules and regulations will hit the country within two weeks. 

“You cannot fix anything by banning crypto and we do not intend to do this,” says Governor Şahap Kavacıoğlu while speaking on TRT (the state-run channel).

Less than a week was left for implementing the complete ban on cryptocurrencies, but the announcement came with many protests from the government’s opponents. Kavacıoğlu, without indicating any details about the upcoming regulations, indicated that they would clarify the regulations and legal definition of cryptocurrencies about how they must be managed by the exchanges. 

The head of Turkey’s central bank ruled out a total ban of cryptocurrencies and said a wide range of crypto regulations is coming within two weeks, according to a published report.

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According to the Chief of Central Bank, the regulations must not be addressing the shocking amount of funds being laundered in the form of cryptocurrencies from the country. 

These comments came shortly after the employee detention of two cryptocurrency platforms that are under government’s investigation. Thodex and Vebitcoin are the two crypto firms that are being investigated by the Turkish government for crypto-based payment fraud. 

A BBC report reveals that four people were linked to Vebitcoin fraud and accounts on the exchange have been blocked. On the other hand, the founder of Thodex, Faruk Fatih Özer, is accused of flying to Albania with $2 billion worth of funds from investors. 

After these two shutdowns, the 84 million people in Turkey showed skyrocketing interest in cryptocurrency. Now, Turkey is being named among the largest crypto markets worldwide with approximately 5 million active crypto investors.