Is Binance considering exiting the Turkish market
Five days after the Turkish Parliament passed a new bill regulating crypto assets, Binance global announced changes to its services in Turkey. The announcement, titled “Updates to Binance’s services in Turkey under the new crypto regulations,” stated that Binance.com will remain accessible to users in Turkey. However, the Turkish language option will be disabled over the next three months.
**Turkish Crypto Assets Regulation**
According to the new crypto assets regulation bill, crypto asset service providers must obtain a license from the Capital Markets Board (SPK) to establish or operate in the country. The law stipulates that individuals and officials of legal entities operating as crypto asset service providers without authorization will face imprisonment for three to five years and a judicial fine ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 days.
Service providers found siphoning off money or crypto assets will face jail time from 8 to 14 years, judicial fines up to 5,000 days, and must compensate for damages. The country currently lacks regulations regarding the taxation of crypto assets; this issue will be addressed in a separate law or regulation in the future.
**Scope of Crypto in the Turkish Market**
According to HedgewithCrypto, the adoption rate of crypto in Turkey has doubled in the past three years, with 40% of the population now holding crypto, making Turkey one of the countries with the highest crypto adoption rate. It is estimated that two out of every five Turkish citizens hold crypto.
Data from CoinMarketCap shows that in the last 24 hours, the trading volume on Binance TR was $201.2 million. Internal trading data on Binance indicates that in September 2023, Turkey’s Lira ranked first among the exchange’s fiat trading pairs, accounting for a surprising 75%.
Chainanalysis published a report in March 2024, ranking Turkey 10th among countries in terms of returns gained from cryptocurrencies in 2023, with an estimated $0.95 billion.
Source: Chainanalysis
**What to Expect**
The real reasons behind Binance’s decision remain unclear, though there are speculations that Binance might be planning to withdraw from the Turkish market. The crypto regulations adopted by Turkey suggest that platforms not applying for an SPK license must terminate their activities and decide to liquidate within three months.
**Tags:** Binance, Crypto news