Government authorities in Turkey are drafting new legislation to facilitate new laws for the nation’s crypto industry. The laws are to be introduced to Turkish parliament this fall and will institute taxes for crypto investments and for companies using digital assets to run their company.
Turkey isn’t the fist country to introduce crypto regulation. Many of the reasons Turkey is regulating crypto are for the same reasons that China has banned it and law makers in the U.S. have regulated it. This includes protecting investors from risks, and preventing criminal activity.
Şakir Ercan Gül, the Deputy Minister of Treasury and Finance, said:
“Those that ban [cryptocurrencies] are generally countries with democracy problems. There are free mechanisms in Western Europe and America.”
Government officials in Turkey plan to initiate taxes for crypto above a certain amount. Government regulators will assess numerous ways of taxation. For example, making it required that all crypto investors report selling of crypto above a given value to the tax office of Turkey. So, it seems like the Turkish government is taking an opportunity to cash in on the trillion dollar crypto industry. But some of the government’s concerns are real.
Crypto fraud in Turkey
With the Lira continuing to plummet and gold not available in Turkish markets, investors in all industries in Turkey have not had an easy time making profits on their businesses and investments. This means that there’s a lot of opportunity for fraudsters in Turkey’s crypto market.
However, one scammer in particular has lucked out due to failed legislation on part of the Turkish government. Faruk Fatih Ozer, the founder of a domestic crypto exchange, escaped to Albania with $2 billion he made after a fundraising round from investors. The Turkish government says that they want to regulate crypto to protect investors from this kind of fraud. However, the Turkish government has outlawed the exchange of digital assets for goods and services. Even if Ozer was arrested, the money he stole would not be able to be returned anyway. So it appears that Turkish officials are causing more issues than they are solving. While they claim they want to institute laws to protect investors – in reality, they are creating a disastrous situation.
Final thoughts
The new bill which officials are working on will be presented to Turkish Parliament in October. But while the government claims these laws will help investors, their past actions are raising concerns among many in Turkey’s crypto industry.
If you enjoyed this article, you might also want to read this one here about one of Ethereum’s co-founders who exiting the crypto market for good.
Aaron is passionate about blockchain and has been an investor in cryptocurrencies for the past years. He enjoys engaging with other people in the cryptocurrency community online, particularly on Telegram, and learning from experts.
