James Cirrone

Faruk Fatih Özer, the founder of failed Turkish crypto exchange Thodex, was sentenced to 11,196 years in prison for fraud, laundering of property values and other crimes.&nbsp;



Özer’s two brothers, who prosecutors claimed worked at Thodex as well, received the same ultra-lengthy prison term.



Özer founded Thodex in 2017 with 400 thousand liras in capital (nearly $15,000), according to the indictment from the prosecutor’s office.&nbsp;



The exchange <a href="https://twitter.com/thodexofficial/status/1384782824436338692/photo/2">announced</a> in April 2021 that it would halt transactions for its roughly 400,000 customers for four to five days. Traders never regained access to their crypto, and shortly after the shutdown, Özer fled to Albania.&nbsp;



Özer was captured by authorities in Albania on Aug. 30, 2022, after his customers lost an estimated $2.6 billion due to Thodex’s collapse, per Chainalysis data.



Prosecutors put the amount lost at a much lower 356 million liras (about $13,259,000), <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/gundem/thodexin-kurucusu-faruk-fatih-ozerin-dolandiricilik-davasinda-karar/2986295">according</a> to state run news outlet Anadolu Agency.



Özer didn’t show remorse for the crimes he was convicted of at his sentencing hearing. Rather, he told the court that Thodex was only a company that went bankrupt.



He also said that he was “smart enough” to run any financial institution in the world, adding that he wouldn’t have acted so “amateurishly” if he actually was running a criminal organization.&nbsp;



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Founder of doomed Thodex exchange sentenced to over 11,000 years

David Canellis

Turkey’s currency, the lira, has tanked by 25% against the US dollar since April, and by more than 80% over the past five years. Memecoin PEPE has apparently offered salvation to some.



Stablecoins like tether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/usdt">USDT</a>) — and even bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">BTC</a>) — have historically been <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-hedge-during-ukraine-war">obvious hedge picks</a>, at least in terms of crypto.



But over the past two months, lira holders on Binance have triggered $682 million worth of <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/pepe">PEPE</a> trades, ranking the froggy joke coin fourth for lira volume on the platform across that period.



Bitcoin, which came in third place, saw only one-fifth more volume over that time. Ether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth">ETH</a>) came a distant seventh with $223 million.



Dollar-pegged tokens USDT and Binance’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/what-does-busd-mean-for-defi">soon-to-be-defunct</a> branded stablecoin <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/busd">BUSD</a> were the most traded between Apr. 26 and Jun. 26, with $5.2 billion and $1 billion, respectively.&nbsp;



Blockworks looked at the 97 lira markets currently hosted by Binance for the purposes of this analysis, based on TradingView data.&nbsp;



Some volume may be attributed to market makers and other high-frequency crypto trading algorithms. Other exchanges servicing lira trades include BTCTurk and Bitfinex.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-flourish wp-block-embed-flourish"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="Interactive or visual content" src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/14259072/embed#?secret=iKSNf4Dkkq" data-secret="iKSNf4Dkkq" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="575" width="700"></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">PEPE presented an out for more risk-tolerant lira traders on Binance</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Still, why so much PEPE for Turkish lira traders?&nbsp;</h2>



A weird wrinkle in the universe meant that PEPE — which had sunk up to 80% in the weeks following its May record high — bounced hard as the Turkish lira crashed to new record lows this month.



Turkish lira holders clearly sought to capitalize on PEPE’s recovery in the days leading up to the lira’s most-recent crashes. Binance’s PEPE-lira volumes spiked to $41 million last Wednesday (Jun. 21) as PEPE more than doubled, up from $9 million one day earlier. That worked out to be about 37% of global PEPE volume, per CoinGecko.



The Turkish central bank <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/22/turkeys-central-bank-hikes-interest-rate-to-15percent-in-dramatic-u-turn-to-tackle-40percent-inflation.html">hiked</a> interest rates from 8.5% to 15% the next day (Jun. 22), sending the lira downward 7% against the US dollar. Meanwhile, Lira-PEPE volumes jumped another 50%, reaching $61.5 million — more than double bitcoin’s lira volume.



PEPE was second only to USDT on that day for Binance’s lira traders, making up 12% of total lira volumes. Overall, Binance processed more than half a billion dollars in Turkish fiat trade on Jun. 22.



Whether lira holders actually intended to hedge against devaluation with PEPE remains unclear.&nbsp; Still, PEPE-lira volumes also spiked on Binance earlier in the month, on Jun. 7, when the lira <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/07/business/turkey-lira-erdogan.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">slipped</a> 7% after its newly-elected government flagged intent to relax stabilization measures.&nbsp;



PEPE was the fifth-most traded cryptocurrency with lira on that day, with $11.9 million, behind peer-to-peer software engineering token radicle (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/rad" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RAD</a>), BTC, BUSD and USDT.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-flourish wp-block-embed-flourish"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="Interactive or visual content" src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/14280293/embed#?secret=axviOMbeNn" data-secret="axviOMbeNn" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="575" width="700"></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Click the boxes to select different time frames</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Fan tokens also a big hit</h2>



In total, Binance has reported handling $89 billion in lira-crypto trade volumes over the past year, with another memecoin, shiba inu (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/shib">SHIB</a>), the fourth-most traded at $3.1 billion, ahead of ETH’s $2.5 billion.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/santos" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SANTOS</a>, the fan token for the Brazilian football club of the same name, trailed just behind ether with $2.47 billion, followed by apex joke token dogecoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/doge" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DOGE</a>).&nbsp;



<ul>
<li>36% of Binance’s lira volume over the past year featured stablecoins.</li>



<li>11% involved bitcoin or ether.</li>



<li>6.5% was memecoins (DOGE, SHIB, <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/floki" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FLOKI</a> or PEPE).</li>
</ul>



In fact, fan tokens seem to be popular among Turkish lira holders. <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/alpine" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ALPINE</a> (the F1 racing team), <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/porto" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PORTO</a> (FC Porto) and <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/lazio" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LAZIO</a> (SS Lazio) were all in the top 20 for lira volume on Binance over the past year.&nbsp;



Impressive, considering those all have market caps under $20 million. The lira trade for those fan tokens on Binance respectively contributed between 22% and 37% of global volumes (as reported by CoinGecko) over the year, during which time they’ve returned between 1% and -24%.



Chiliz (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/chz">CHZ</a>), the native token for <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/chz" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fan token platform Socios</a>, came in ninth over the year, with almost $1.7 billion.



So, aside from stablecoins, have any of the most traded cryptocurrencies against the lira on Binance actually hedged against currency devaluation?&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-flourish wp-block-embed-flourish"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="Interactive or visual content" src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/14280411/embed#?secret=Yvxbtbr59t" data-secret="Yvxbtbr59t" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="575" width="700"></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Only a small set of the most traded cryptocurrencies against the lira have gone up</figcaption></figure>



Narrowing the scope to just the top 20 most traded tokens shows that on average, those cryptocurrencies jumped around 12%.



But 39 out of the 95 fell more than 36% over the past year — performing worse than the lira against the US dollar — including algorand (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/algo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ALGO</a>), <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/near" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NEAR</a> and solana (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/sol" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SOL</a>).&nbsp;



That works out to be around a 40% success rate at hedging against lira’s devaluation via Binance.



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Turkish traders piled into PEPE and bitcoin as lira collapsed

Ben Strack

The world’s largest crypto exchange, which has stepped in to offer Ukrainians relief in recent months, is set to airdrop its BNB token to help the victims of the earthquake in Turkey, while other firms have also pledged support.



Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a Monday tweet that team members at the exchange had met several times over how to best help those affected by the earthquake felt in Turkey, Syria and elsewhere.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">We are truly saddened by the earthquake in Turkey 🇹🇷. Our team has been working on a solution to help the people. There are quite a few details. I have had 4 meetings on it today. More details to come. Stay strong. 🙏&mdash; CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) <a href="https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1622632162418692097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



The exchange <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/blog/charity/binance-to-airdrop-$100-usd-1883-try-in-bnb-to-users-in-the-turkey-earthquake-region-8156736968497181390" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">revealed</a> Tuesday it would airdrop BNB worth $100, or 1,883 Turkish lira (TRY), to all Binance users in 10 cities impacted by the earthquake — identified by proof of address. Total donations are estimated to be roughly $5 million, or 94 million TRY.



The exchange’s charity arm also launched a public donation address, as donations to the <a href="https://www.binance.charity/projects/42/Turkey-Earthquake-Relief">Emergency Earthquake Appeal</a> will be accepted in BNB, bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">BTC</a>), ether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ETH</a>), Binance USD (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/busd">BUSD</a>) and ripple (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/xrp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">XRP</a>).



A Binance spokesperson did not immediately return a request for further comment.



While details on upcoming crypto-centric relief efforts are sparse, such initiatives have taken multiple forms in the past.



Amid the ongoing Russian-instigated war, Binance <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/war-torn-ukraine-is-turning-to-crypto">partnered</a> with Ukrainian pharmaceutical company ANC last month to offer crypto payment services for Ukrainian citizens purchasing goods at ANC’s 1,000 stores across the country, through Binance Pay.



The crypto exchange has also <a href="https://www.binance.com/uk-UA/event/VARUSBinancePay">partnered</a> with Ukrainian supermarket chain VARUS to facilitate crypto payments in nine cities in the country and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-blocks-newly-sanctioned-russians-launches-card-for-ukrainian-refugees">launched a cryptocurrency card</a> for Ukrainian refugees last April.&nbsp;



The Ukrainian government <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ukraine-fund-spends-54m-of-crypto-donations-on-military-gear">received assets worth up to $54 million</a> up until August 2022 through donations to the nonprofit “Aid For Ukraine,” which is operated by Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation. The funds for this particular initiative came in bitcoin, ether, USDT, solana, polkadot and other tokens — and were largely spent on military equipment.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Turkey <a href="https://blockworks.co/turkey-bans-crypto-as-form-of-payment-bitcoin-price-drops">banned crypto as a form of payment</a> in April 2021. In December of that year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan revealed that a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cryptocurrencies-stable-as-turkey-eyes-digital-asset-regulation">long-awaited bill regulating digital assets was ready</a>.&nbsp;



Crypto ownership or usage in Turkey, a country with the 7th highest <a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-which-countries-have-the-highest-inflation/">inflation rate</a>, increased from <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1202468/global-cryptocurrency-ownership/">25% to 40%</a> of the population, according to the 2022 Statista Global Consumer Survey.



More recently, Turkey’s central bank said the first payment transactions on the Digital Turkish Lira Network were executed successfully, as pilots are set to continue throughout this year.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">As Binance plans its next steps, others have pledged fiat funds</h2>



Bitfinex, Keet, Synonym and Tether pledged 5 million Turkish lira — worth about $270,000 — for relief and recovery efforts in Turkey. The companies “will seek ways to provide continued support towards helping [Turkey] rebuild for the future,” according to a <a href="https://blog.bitfinex.com/announcements/bitfinex-keet-synonym-and-tether-pledge-5-million-try-for-turkiye-earthquake-recovery/">blog post</a>.&nbsp;



Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget said Monday that it would send 1 million Turkish liras —&nbsp; roughly $50,000 —&nbsp; to similar causes.&nbsp;



Crypto exchange Gate.io has started to prepare aid packages for those impacted by the earthquakes, the company <a href="https://twitter.com/gate_io/status/1622509321555771392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1622509321555771392%7Ctwgr%5Ed6bb663d22606c8ae2360637c690ae959940c71f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.embedly.com%2Fwidgets%2Fmedia.html%3Ftype%3Dtext2Fhtmlkey%3Dcb7145f1731b4c328f8e4d2201854ceaschema%3Dtwitterurl%3Dhttps3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fgate_io%2Fstatus%2F1622509321555771392image%3Dhttps3A%2F%2Fabs.twimg.com%2Ferrors%2Flogo46x38.png">tweeted</a> Monday morning, noting it would “deliver them in coordination with the authorities.”&nbsp;



And crypto charity platform <a href="https://thegivingblock.com/">The Giving Block</a> noted several charities that accept donations in crypto, and that have pledged aid to the region.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">The Giving Block is actively monitoring the situation in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Turkey?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Turkey</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Syria?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Syria</a> after the recent 7.8 magnitude earthquake. We will be updating the following thread with nonprofits that accept crypto donations who are actively responding to this tragedy. 👇🧵&mdash; The Giving Block (@TheGivingBlock) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheGivingBlock/status/1622633804769763329?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Updated on Feb. 7, 2023 at 10:13 am ET: Added details about Binance&#8217;s airdrop plans.



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Crypto Firms Rush To Help Earthquake Victims

Sam Reynolds

<div id="highlights-block_61cb3177774ee" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The Turkish lira has depreciated by nearly 34% this year as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plan to stabilize the economy backfired</li>
 <li>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</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has <a href="https://abcgazetesi.com/erdogan-kripto-para-yasasi-hazir-yakinda-gecikmeden-meclise-gonderecegiz-412268" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> 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&#8217;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.&nbsp;



In March, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/turkish-bitcoin-interest-spikes-after-lira-devaluation-capital-controls/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks reported</a> that Google searches for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were up by nearly 500%. In April, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/turkey-bans-crypto-as-form-of-payment-bitcoin-price-drops/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Turkey banned crypto</a> 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.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Turkey’s out-of-control inflation&nbsp;</h3>



Ergodan’s administration has taken a non-conventional approach to monetary policy, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-24/erdogan-says-turkey-won-t-again-tame-inflation-with-rate-hikes" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">refusing to raise interest rates</a> to combat surging inflation, instead preferring to maintain low rates in order to finance cheap borrowing.&nbsp; “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.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Market remains stable</h3>



<a href="https://www.tradingview.com/x/bsCvnc50/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">On-chain data</a> from Turkey suggests the market doesn’t expect the bill Erdogan is readying for parliament to be overly restrictive.&nbsp;



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.&nbsp;



BTCTurkPro, one of the largest domestic exchanges, also reports steady volume, clearing an average of $300 million a day in transactions <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/exchanges/btcturk-pro#statistics" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to CoinGecko</a>. Volume spiked on December 21 to nearly $1 billion as the lira briefly rallied when Erdogan <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/21/turkish-lira-whipsaws-from-historic-low-after-erdogan-announces-rescue-plan-.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced a plan</a> to protect depositors against currency fluctuations leading many traders to take profit against a recovered lira.&nbsp;



Unrelated to the upcoming crypto bill, Binance, which has a strong presence in Turkey and offers lira-denominated trading pairs, has been <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/gundem/turkiyede-kripto-varlik-platformlarina-yonelik-ilk-ceza-geldi/2457158" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fined $750,000 by local authorities</a> for having insufficient money laundering controls in place.&nbsp;



Erdogan <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/why-turkey-is-now-turkiye-and-why-that-matters-52602" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">has also announced</a> 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.”



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Cryptocurrencies Stable As Turkey Eyes Digital-Asset Regulation

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_60e88245b0107" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Study also showed the number of women who trade cryptocurrencies also increased and doubled from 20% last year to 40% as of this year</li>
 <li>The research also concluded that satisfaction across generations differed with millennials leading the way </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The rate of people in Turkey who completed transactions with cryptocurrency is up 11 times on year, according to data from cryptocurrency trading platform <a href="https://www.paribu.com/">Paribu</a>.&nbsp;



The previous rate of crypto usage was 0.7% last year, up 1000% to 7.7% as of this year, the data shows in comparison to Paribu’s previously conducted survey from 2020.&nbsp;



“In a year, the interest in crypto money has increased significantly,” said Paribu CEO Yasin Oral, in response to the results. “Both the communication activities of the platforms and the activity in cryptocurrencies had an impact on this. We see that Turkey has the potential to play a leading role in cryptocurrencies.”&nbsp;



The <a href="https://www.paribu.com/blog/haberler/paribu-en-kapsamli-kripto-para-arastirmasinin-sonuclarini-acikladi-turkiyede-kripto-para-kullanimi-11-kat-artti/">data results</a> of the “Crypto Money Awareness and Perception Research-2021,” which was conducted by Akademetre Research Company on behalf of Paribu, showed substantial growth in the Middle Eastern country’s crypto industry.&nbsp;



While interest is on the rise, in April, the Turkish government announced it would ban payments in bitcoin and citizens could own cryptocurrencies, but not use them, Blockworks previously <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/turkey-bans-crypto-as-form-of-payment-bitcoin-price-drops/">reported</a>. Digital asset exchanges were also banned from operating in the country.&nbsp;



While total crypto transactions were up on the year, the study also showed the number of women who trade cryptocurrencies also increased and doubled from 20% last year to 40% as of this year.&nbsp;



Bitcoin is the most preferred cryptocurrency by users in Turkey with 7 out of 10 market participants saying they trade BTC, compared to ether, which only 2 out of every 10 people trade, the data showed.&nbsp;



The research also concluded that satisfaction across generations differed. Millennials born from 1981 to 1996 were the most satisfied at 76.2%, followed by Generation X, those born from 1965 to 1980, with 75.9% and Generation Z, 1997 to 2012 with 58.3%.&nbsp;



However, the survey said trust in the crypto industry has fallen in the country from 34.2% as of last year to 25.3% this year, due various cryptocurrency bans by the Turkish government.&nbsp;



Volatility and risk are the two main reasons for the ban, according to the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, which said that cryptocurrencies are not subject to regulation or supervision by a central regulatory authority, wallets can be stolen, transactions are irrevocable, and they may be used for illegal actions due to their anonymous structure.



Turkish interest in bitcoin also grew as citizens feared the country could be heading for another currency crisis, Blockworks also previously <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/turkish-bitcoin-interest-spikes-after-lira-devaluation-capital-controls/">reported</a>.&nbsp;



As a result of this, some platforms caused “user grievances” in April, Oral said and the ban reflected negatively on the research results. Regardless, interest in cryptocurrency continues to rise in Turkey and in order to gain full trust there needs to be further regulation, Oral said.