Markets
Turkish Parliament Adopts New Bill on Cryptocurrency Regulation
The long-awaited bill including regulations regarding cryptocurrencies It was accepted by the Turkish parliament on Wednesday and became law.
The “Bill on Amendments to the Capital Markets Law” was approved by the General Assembly of Parliament.
According to the bill, cryptocurrency service providers must obtain authorization from the Capital Markets Board (SPK) before establishing and operating. While the power to regulate the ecosystem is entrusted to the Capital Markets Board, in matters of information systems and technological infrastructures the criteria established by the Türkiye Scientific and Technological Research Council (TÜBITAK) will be applied.
With the law, definitions related to cryptocurrencies such as “cryptocurrency”, “cryptocurrency service provider” and “wallet” are added to the Capital Markets Law.
One of the main focuses of the early regulations was the licensing processes of platforms providing services in the country. Therefore platforms will mandatorily need to obtain authorization from the SPK to establish themselves and start functioning.
The SPK can take regulatory actions, make both specific and general decisions, and apply measures and sanctions. Meanwhile, the financial audit and independent audit of information systems of cryptocurrency service providers will be carried out by independent audit firms from the list announced by the SPK, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.
Another important issue in the law is that there is no regulation regarding the taxation of cryptocurrencies. This issue will be addressed in the future with a separate law or regulation.
Furthermore, the law stipulates that individuals and officials of legal entities who are found to be operating as cryptocurrency service providers without permission will be sentenced to three to five years’ imprisonment and a judicial fine of 5,000 to 10,000 days.
Service providers who misappropriate money or assets entrusted to them, including cryptocurrencies, will be punished with prison sentences of eight to fourteen years and fines of up to 5,000 days and will have to pay damages.
The new regulation suggests that currently operational cryptocurrency service providers must apply to the SPK within one month. Platforms that do not apply are asked to cease their activities and make a liquidation decision within three months.
In this way we aim to create an environment of transparency and trust in the sector. Cryptocurrencies are very popular in Turkey and the country is one of the largest cryptocurrency trading markets in the world.