47 VASPs have applied for licensing in Turkey: Capital Markets Board

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A total of 47 virtual asset service providers (VASPs) have applied for licensing under Turkey’s new capital market law, the country’s Capital Markets Board (CMB) has revealed.

Turkey has become one of the world’s largest digital asset markets in recent years. The local lira has been one of the world’s worst-performing fiat currencies in the past three years, rivaled only by Argentina’s peso and Venezuela’s bolivar. This has pushed Turkey to explore alternatives, with stablecoins and digital currencies emerging as strong contenders.

According to Chainalysis, Turkey topped the list globally for stablecoin purchases versus gross domestic product (GDP). The New York firm revealed that the country recorded $38 billion in stablecoin purchases last year, and with its GDP standing at $900 billion, this accounts for over 4%.

To protect this rapidly rising group of investors, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signed a new capital markets bill into law last month after the Grand National Assembly voted for it in May. It establishes a new licensing regime for VASPs, overseen by the CMB.

The CMB revealed that dozens of companies have moved quickly to apply for licensing to comply with the new law. It listed 47 VASPs who await its license, including the local subsidiaries of Bitfinex, Binance and OKX.

The agency also disclosed that three companies had folded and were unable to comply with the new regulations.

Turkey has built this new licensing regime to comply with global standards after it was finally removed from the FATF grey list, where it has resided since late 2021.

The new framework will bring the digital asset industry under the CMB’s purview and, consequently, streamline taxation for an administration that has been conducting the most drastic tax overhauls since 1999.

Erdoğan’s administration is reportedly seeking to impose a 0.03% tax on digital asset transactions, which the Finance Ministry estimates would add 3.7 billion lira ($110 million) to the exchequer. Last year, Turkish investors ranked in the top ten globally for digital asset gains, netting $950 million, according to Chainalysis.

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