Turkey bans crypto payments, points to risk
By Claire Hunte
09:24, 16 April 2021
Turkey’s Central Bank has prohibited the use of any crypto assets as payments citing significant risks, causing Bitcoin to slide in trading.
The central bank issued the regulation after completing studies on the regulation of crypto assets in payments, leading to a ban preventing the direct or indirect payment of crypto assets or allowing firms to offer services.
In a release, the central bank said "some initiatives emerged regarding the use of these assets in payments. It is considered that their use in payments may cause non-recoverable losses for the parties to the transactions".
It listed factors leading to the prohibition of cryptocurrencies which included: "They are neither subject to any regulation and supervision mechanisms nor a central regulatory authority."
The bank said that as well as the "excessive" volatility and use in illegal actions due to their anonymous structures, electronic coin 'wallets' can be stolen or used unlawfully without the authorisation of their holders, and that transactions are irrevocable.
Bitcoin slipped 2.79% to £44,386 at the time of publishing.
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