Regulation
Is Binance considering exiting the Turkish market?
Five days after the Turkish parliament passed a new bill on cryptoasset regulation, Binance Global announced adjustments to its services in Turkey. Binance’s announcement, titled “Updates to Binance’s Services in Turkey Under the New Cryptoasset Regulation,” stated that Binance.com would remain accessible to Turkish users, but that the Turkish language would be disabled for the next three months.
Turkish Crypto Asset Regulation
According to the new draft law on the regulation of crypto assets, crypto asset service providers must obtain a license from the Capital Markets Board (SPK) in order to establish or start operating in the country. The law stipulates that individuals and managers of legal entities who operate as crypto asset service providers without a license are subject to imprisonment for three to five years and a judicial fine ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 days.
Any service provider who embezzles money or crypto assets is subject to imprisonment of 8 to 14 years and court fines of up to 5,000 days, as well as compensation for damages. The country still does not have any regulations regarding the taxation of crypto assets and the issue will be addressed by a separate law or regulation in the coming times.
Scope of Cryptocurrency in Turkish Market
According to HedgewithCrypto, the cryptocurrency adoption rate in Turkey has doubled in the last three years, from 16% of the population holding cryptocurrencies to 40%, making Turkey one of the countries with the highest cryptocurrency adoption rate. According to one estimate, two out of five Turkish citizens hold cryptocurrencies.
CoinMarketCap data shows that in the last 24 hours, the trading volume on Binance TR stands at $201.2 million. Internal trading data on Binance shows that in September 2023, the Turkish lira ranked first among all fiat trading pairs on the exchange, accounting for a surprising 75%.
Chainanalysis published a report in March 2024, in which it ranked Turkey 10th among the countries that benefited from cryptocurrencies in 2023. Turkey earned around $0.95 billion.
Source: Chainanalysis
What to expect?
The real reasons behind Binance’s decision are still unclear, but some speculations indicate that Binance is considering withdrawing from the Turkish market. Turkey’s crypto regulations suggest that platforms that do not apply for an SPK license should cease operations and make a decision to liquidate within three months.