Cryptocurrencies Stable As Turkey Eyes Digital-Asset Regulation

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that a long-awaited bill regulating digital assets is ready, according to reports in local media. The contents of the bill have not been made public, but it’s expected to be hostile to digital assets, […]

share

key takeaways

  • The Turkish lira has depreciated by nearly 34% this year as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plan to stabilize the economy backfired
  • Authorities are looking to clamp down on crypto after continued interest from Turks as a way to preserve wealth in the face of a weakening lira

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that a long-awaited bill regulating digital assets is ready, according to reports in local media. The contents of the bill have not been made public, but it’s expected to be hostile to digital assets, which have been growing in popularity in Turkey as the value of the country’s lira currency has slumped in recent months. 

In March, Blockworks reported that Google searches for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were up by nearly 500%. In April, Turkey banned crypto as a form of payment. It remains legal to hold the asset although regulators frequently cite crypto as a form of evasion for capital controls and taxes. 

Turkey’s out-of-control inflation 

Ergodan’s administration has taken a non-conventional approach to monetary policy, refusing to raise interest rates to combat surging inflation, instead preferring to maintain low rates in order to finance cheap borrowing. 

“We’ve put aside the classical understanding of economics that keeps inflation under control with high interest rates,” Bloomberg quoted Erdogan as saying. “We will witness a different economic climate through summer once the financial stability is ensured.”

Inflation, though, has hit record levels, clocking in at 26% in November according to published statistics. 

Market remains stable

On-chain data from Turkey suggests the market doesn’t expect the bill Erdogan is readying for parliament to be overly restrictive. 

The valuation of the Turkish lira against the stablecoin tether is continuing to track the official TRY-USD exchange rate, suggesting traders aren’t trying to dump tether before local exchanges and their ramps get shut down. 

BTCTurkPro, one of the largest domestic exchanges, also reports steady volume, clearing an average of $300 million a day in transactions according to CoinGecko. Volume spiked on December 21 to nearly $1 billion as the lira briefly rallied when Erdogan announced a plan to protect depositors against currency fluctuations leading many traders to take profit against a recovered lira. 

Unrelated to the upcoming crypto bill, Binance, which has a strong presence in Turkey and offers lira-denominated trading pairs, has been fined $750,000 by local authorities for having insufficient money laundering controls in place. 

Erdogan has also announced a change in the country’s name from Turkey to Turkiye, explaining that it reflects “the culture, civilisation, and values of the Turkish nation in the best way.”


Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.


Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates (15).png

Research

A spot listing on Binance can support highly favorable short term returns. Tokens that TGE on Binance exhibit lower short term returns when compared to tokens that receive the listing after TGE. Both spot and futures listings support higher returns, while a spot listing is historically more favorable. Tokens that have yet to receive a Binance spot listing may be trading at a 30-50% discount to their market value upon receiving a Binance spot listing.

article-image

Maple’s Sid Powell said that TradFi firms have been in contact with the firm about lending and borrowing in crypto

article-image

Building onchain public goods is noble but they don’t always make the number go up

article-image

Vector is a mobile social trading app with a built-in crypto wallet that lets users broadcast their trades to other users

article-image

Kraken Pay is only the latest product in the growing crypto payments landscape

article-image

One ex-SEC senior counsel doesn’t “expect an overnight response to this, [but] rather a slow rollout of approvals”

article-image

The unemployment rate has “stabilized” and the labor market is “solid,” officials said