Turkey added all the cryptocurrency exchanges to a list of firms covered by terror financing and money laundering rules. However, the Government made this move after Turkey’s Central bank banned cryptocurrencies from making payments.
The level of anonymity behind these digital tokens brings the risks of non-recoverable losses. Moreover, they introduced the ban in response to the claim that cryptocurrency transactions are too risky. The ban took effect on Friday.
According to the Presidential decree, all crypto asset service providers should see that their assets are not illegally used. The rule went into force immediately with Turkey’s official Gazette publication. Government halted two trading platforms in the following days under separate investigations.
Thodex and Vebitcoin
Turkish authorities launched a fraud investigation last month on two cryptocurrency exchanges Thodex and Vebitcoin. Authorities jailed Six suspects who were linked to the Thodex probe on Friday with a trial pending.
Moreover, Thodex handled daily trades of hundreds of millions of dollars. The investigation initially started after the customers complained of not being able to access their funds. Authorities arrested 83 people initially in the investigation.
According to a senior official, the Government is also planning to establish a central custodian bank to eliminate all types of counterparty risks that follow the two exchanges’ recent collapse.
Faruk Fatih Ozer
The Interpol immediately issued a detention warrant to the Thodex company’s CEO, Faruk Fatih Ozer. However, the Turkish authorities are searching for him after he traveled to Albania.
According to the Reuters report, suspects include siblings of the CEO and the company’s senior employees.
Attacks
Cryptocurrencies have been increasingly attacking the Turkish people to protect against the decline of the lira and double-digit inflation.
