Turkey is preparing a new law on crypto assets: report

According to Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, Turkey is preparing a new law on crypto regulation. The law will strengthen Turkey's approach to money laundering and terrorist financing in order to comply with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) requirements.

Turkey is looking to strengthen its approach to cryptocurrency regulation, according to a statement by the country's finance minister.

Reuters reported on Wednesday, November 1 that Turkey's efforts to enact new legislation aimed at clearer regulation of crypto-assets as a way to improve the outlook for money laundering and terrorist financing.

Turkey seeks to comply with FATF requirements.

In particular, Turkey hopes that the new law will convince the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to remove the country from its “grey list”, which includes countries whose anti-money laundering (AML) and terrorism financing are insufficient.

The international monitoring group added Turkey to this list of countries in 2021.

Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, in his speech to a parliamentary commission on October 31, indicated that the country is in full technical compliance with the FFF 40 standards. “Work related to crypto assets” was now the only issue.

According to Simsec, the ministry is going to present the crypto asset law proposal to the parliament. The legal approval of this proposal should remove Turkey from the “gray list”, unless there are issues – such as political issues.

Reuters said SimSec did not provide any other details about the expected regulatory action.

The Turkish government's efforts to align with FATF standards on money laundering and terrorist financing come amid widespread international pressure to regulate cryptocurrencies.

That has seen the likes of the EU ratify the Markets in CryptoAsset (MiCA) Act and the UK ratify the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA). Comprehensive rules are expected to bring more transparency to crypto regulation, including stablecoins.