Presidential decree adds cryptocurrency exchanges to rules against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Turkey has added cryptocurrency trading platforms to its list of companies subject to the anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist regulation, according to a presidential decree.
Last month, Turkey’s central bank banned the use of cryptocurrencies for payments on the grounds that such transactions were risky.
In the following days, two cryptocurrency exchanges based in Turkey ceased operations in two separate cases. These are Thodex and Vebitcoin.
Six suspects linked to the Thodex case were remanded in custody on Friday pending trial.
The investigation into Thodex, which handled hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency transactions on a daily basis, initially led to the arrest of 83 people after its users complained that they did not have access to their funds.
Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for the company’s managing director, Fatih Faruk Özer, who is wanted by Turkish authorities, while information indicates that he escaped to Albania. It was initially believed that he had fled to Thailand.
People in Turkey are prawn to cryptocurrencies as protection against falling pound sterling and double-digit inflation.
