Turkey tightens regulations for crypto exchanges and custodians

Among other things, crypto service providers will have to fund the maintenance of compliance infrastructure

13.03.2025 - 14:45

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What’s new? Turkey has tightened regulations for crypto asset service providers (CASPs), including exchanges, custodians, and wallet providers. On March 13, Turkey’s Capital Markets Board (CMB) published two regulations regarding CASP licensing and operations. They provide the regulator with full oversight of crypto platforms, ensuring compliance with national and international standards.

CMB statement

What else is known? CASPs will be required to invest in compliance infrastructure and set up dedicated risk management teams and price monitoring systems to alert on suspicious trading activity. There are also strict transaction reporting requirements.

The new rules strengthen Turkey’s anti-money laundering (AML) standards by requiring CASPs to record significant transaction data sets, including canceled and unexecuted transfers.

There will also be standards and requirements for launching firms and providing crypto services, covering founding capital, executive history, shareholder rules, and others.

Turkey also tightened AML regulations in December 2024, requiring users to share identity information with CASP for transactions over 15 000 Turkish liras ($409).

It is noted that the new rules are in line with global standards and follow the regulatory approaches set by the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).