Turkish crypto currency investors are eagerly waiting for the new crypto regulation. However, the draft arrived at the Turkish Grand National Assembly in January. Now, as we approach the end of February, there is still no draft discussed in the committees and it has not been shared with the public. Today’s statements by Mehmet Şimşek have caused confusion.
Crypto Currency Regulation and FATF
The statement made this week by Ömer İleri from the AKP indicated that the crypto regulation would soon come to the Parliament. However, today’s statement by Mehmet Şimşek has caused confusion. Minister Şimşek, who announced that they have fulfilled all the obligations required for exiting the FATF’s grey list, said that they have reached the final stage.
However, previous statements mentioned that the crypto draft being worked on was the final stage for exiting the grey list. Now, if all conditions have been met, does this mean that the crypto regulation will not come?
“FATF has concluded that our country has completed all the articles of the Action Plan established to further strengthen our system against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Therefore, we have reached the final stage in the process of exiting the grey list. Following the visit by the FATF team to Turkey and the assessment report that will be prepared thereafter, this report will be discussed at the General Assembly meeting in June, and the removal of our country from the grey list is expected at this meeting.”
Şimşek also thanked the efforts coordinated by the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) for the compliance process. The fact that he did not touch upon issues related to crypto currencies and his “all is well” statement leads to speculations that this regulation may have been postponed. The detail of “on-site inspection” mentioned in his post from the X account may suggest that this statement could have been made assuming that the crypto regulation will be completed by the indicated date.
