Turkish Central Bank Forbids use of cryptocurrencies as a mean of Exchange.

[cheezcarls]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Russia also implemented this similar ban to their citizens where they can’t exchange Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for purchasing goods and services (however trading is allowed). Even federal and government officials are ordered to dispose the cryptocurrencies that they own on or before April 1st 2021 to prevent corruption.

Transactions are irreversible, yes. It is difficult to request a refund once you have initiated a transaction. You would be lucky if the receiver is willing to send you a refund if something goes wrong with your purchase.

[oHnK]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Russia also implemented this similar ban to their citizens where they can’t exchange Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for purchasing goods and services (however trading is allowed). Even federal and government officials are ordered to dispose the cryptocurrencies that they own on or before April 1st 2021 to prevent corruption.

Transactions are irreversible, yes. It is difficult to request a refund once you have initiated a transaction. You would be lucky if the receiver is willing to send you a refund if something goes wrong with your purchase.

It is true that Russia adopts the same policies but is not as strict as Turkey's.  Russia clearly admits they ban Crypto but cannot really eliminate 100% of the crypto transactions in their country.  Because Bitcoin is still very popular with the people, it is even known that Putin's aides have crypto mining tools.  Turkey is currently still starting their policy and it looks quite tight due to lowering Crypto prices in the country.

[Spaffin]

I believe that the Turkish government makes a decision on cryptocurrencies precisely for the reason that Turkey is in a leading position along with the United States and India in the spread of coronavirus around the world. Their economy is in a very poor condition, while it should be borne in mind that the holiday season in Turkey will practically be closed, which means that the receipt of funds in the State Treasury will be almost critical. Since the government sees a large-scale leak of finance into the cryptocurrency, they accordingly took tough measures to reduce the damage.

[fullhdpixel]

I saw someone comment that they banned bitcoin because they are “afraid that they are going to be losing control, so they had no other option than to ban it’, so how does banning bitcoin help them to gain control over it ? They are not going to have any control, rather they stand to lose even more or total control of it.

If they don’t ban it, there will be some ways that they are going to be having control and that’s through centralized exchanges which they are going to be controlling. But right now, they are going to be forcing their citizens to go for peer to peer which is the same thing that happened with Nigeria when their central bank banned bitcoin and people quickly went into peer to peer which is totally out of control for their government.

[bryant.coleman]

I believe that the Turkish government makes a decision on cryptocurrencies precisely for the reason that Turkey is in a leading position along with the United States and India in the spread of coronavirus around the world. Their economy is in a very poor condition, while it should be borne in mind that the holiday season in Turkey will practically be closed, which means that the receipt of funds in the State Treasury will be almost critical. Since the government sees a large-scale leak of finance into the cryptocurrency, they accordingly took tough measures to reduce the damage.

This is just ridiculous. How can a ban on cryptocurrency help them with reduced tourist arrivals or a decrease in tax revenue? There is a very small correlation between cryptocurrency and these sectors. And the ban covers purchase of goods and services using cryptocurrency. And this is even stranger. You need to pay your taxes, irrespective of whether you are making the payment using the Turkish Lira, US Dollar or Bitcoin. So how this is going to help? If you claim that this measure was an attempt to prop up the Turkish Lira, then it would have been more understandable.

[SquallLeonhart]

I saw someone comment that they banned bitcoin because they are “afraid that they are going to be losing control, so they had no other option than to ban it’, so how does banning bitcoin help them to gain control over it ? They are not going to have any control, rather they stand to lose even more or total control of it.

If they don’t ban it, there will be some ways that they are going to be having control and that’s through centralized exchanges which they are going to be controlling. But right now, they are going to be forcing their citizens to go for peer to peer which is the same thing that happened with Nigeria when their central bank banned bitcoin and people quickly went into peer to peer which is totally out of control for their government.

Unfortunately nations still blame crypto for things, they do not realize that it has been a problem in fiat world way before bitcoin was ever created. Turkish Lira had its problems 30 years ago as well, it has today too, banning crypto as a means of exchange will not solve it. The weird thing is, they did not ban crypto as a whole, you can still buy it, hold it, use it, spend it, you just can't use it as means of exchange and that's it, nothing more. That is why this could be one and only law making it illegal for its true purpose, otherwise as an asset it is still acceptable.

I do not really understand why it is like that, but it is really weird but definitely not as bad as it could be. I just think they believed people would stop using crypto this way and Lira would get more powerful but it is obvious that it is not true, in fact crypto helps more people than it hurts.

[paxmao]

It is kind of an universal truth. Autocratic governments trying for "alternative economic theories" that spectacularly fail left with no other chance but to imprison their citizens finances to avoid a massive loss of capital. Not that they achieve anything really, particularly as the Turkish government has fired a few finance ministers that were trying to put in place the painful but now unavoidable painful measures.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56479702

[DoverDoane]

From time to time, the response of the world community to bitcoin is increasing. This is a fact. for some countries this is considered a threat, they are worried that the higher the investment value in bitcoin will reduce the level of investment in the real sector.
In my opinion, the state action that prohibits the use of digital transaction tools is counterproductive. They should take accommodative steps to make adjustments to respond to this excellent opportunity (bitcoin) so that a new, more flexible and independent financial mechanism will be created.
Sooner or later a new order of global transaction mechanism through bitcoin will materialize, so that there is no reason for unproductive prohibition.

[fillippone]

It is kind of an universal truth. Autocratic governments trying for "alternative economic theories" that spectacularly fail left with no other chance but to imprison their citizens finances to avoid a massive loss of capital. Not that they achieve anything really, particularly as the Turkish government has fired a few finance ministers that were trying to put in place the painful but now unavoidable painful measures.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56479702

Governments like the power.
They want to control their citizen trough the exercise of power that comes from the enslavement due to their government induced poverty.
So the only act of rebellion left to the citizen the self is the act of trying to grant the self freedom trough bitcoin, the Trojan hose of freedom.

[Karartma1]

I see... You mean the following Trojan Hose.
http://www.trojanco.com/
Am I right? 
Sorry man, I couldn't resist! You obviously misspelled the words Trojan Horse but I couldn't stop laughin' for no reason.

Time to buy some more freedom chips, cause bitcoin is on the way down.

[DoverDoane]

Grief NEWS FROM TURKEY. The right sentence for the world of cryptocurrency. The person who is suspected of committing fraud through Turkey's main crypto, Thodek is a bad signal that is counterproductive to the cryptocurrency world that highly values ​​trust. Trust in this business is the highest absolute that must be held fast. because what we're doing here really have to trust each other. with the Thodek case in Turkey, at least it has doubted our positive campaign about trust in digital transaction tools. I hope something like this will not happen again.

[fillippone]

Good news from Turkey:

Turkey’s Central Bank Head Says Crypto Regs Coming, Denies Total Ban Ahead

The head of Turkey’s central bank ruled out a total ban of cryptocurrencies and said a wide range of crypto regulations is coming within two weeks, Trade Moneta reported.

Speaking on state-run channel TRT, Governor Şahap Kavacıoğlu said, "You cannot fix anything by banning crypto and we do not intend to do this."

[ingiltere]

Good news from Turkey:

Turkey’s Central Bank Head Says Crypto Regs Coming, Denies Total Ban Ahead

The head of Turkey’s central bank ruled out a total ban of cryptocurrencies and said a wide range of crypto regulations is coming within two weeks, Trade Moneta reported.

Speaking on state-run channel TRT, Governor Şahap Kavacıoğlu said, "You cannot fix anything by banning crypto and we do not intend to do this."

We can't say good news yet. They are notorious for choosing the worst option for people on everything, never trust this government and their institutions.
They have no idea how to handle this and they are saying in 2 weeks they will make a rulebook. We'll see whether if it's high tax policy or something else but trust me, nothing good comes out of this.

[dezoel]

Well, that’s the second country I know of that have banned bitcoin this year. It seems it isn’t clear to them that they are not really stopping their citizens from HODL’ing bitcoin. People can still HODL bitcoin and they wouldn’t be aware of it, it’s hundred percent possible, but they don’t take that into consideration when they place a ban on Bitcoin that those people they are banning it for can still have access in some ways.

I think when governments decide to ban bitcoin they are the ones that are going to be losing in a situation like this, especially when there are well established businesses there that the government is benefiting from through taxes.

[CryptoCrookz]

Kinda seems like the government is trying to cover up its tracks due to having failed to have some reasonable regulations for exchanges earlier. Now what they got were two scammy exchanges and now they act tough with the bans and arrests to show off as if they are doing something. Local exchanges have the tendency to either have security holes or being outright scams. It is tough to run a fully secure and legit business on a budget when starting up.

[sapnu]

As to what was mentioned by the head of the Central Bank in Turkey, the total ban was not yet implemented nevertheless, this doesn't exclude us from the fact that they are trying to build up the country's main cryptocurrency which is Thodek. On the other hand, as the governmeny exercise their power towards the nation, sooner or later a lot of detrimental outcomes would show up as they make the wrong decisions for their country. Also, we have no idea if they are secretly investing the asset of the country in crypto that's why they are doing those unnecessary actions which clearly doesn't make sense.

[fillippone]

The first pages of this thread were the: "How it is started" part of the story.

Now there is the "How is it going?"



One excerpt from the article:

“The senseless policies regarding rates, diminishing trust for published statistics regarding inflation and political decisions…made cryptos a safe haven, even though cryptos are rather risky and volatile financial assets,” said Kağan Şenay, a 27-year-old trader in Bursa in northwest Turkey.
<...>
Turks have embraced cryptocurrencies despite an official ban introduced last year on their use as a form of payment in the country. The ban, which was unveiled without warning, “created a traumatic experience in the Turkish cryptocurrency community,” said Turan Sert, an adviser to Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Paribu.
<...>
Cryptocurrencies have grown in popularity in Turkey and parts of the developing world where distrust of government economic policies is high. Nigerians use bitcoin for payments after currency devaluations and tight control over access to foreign currencies. El Salvador last year became the first nation to recognize bitcoin as legal tender, after two decades of having its economy tied to the U.S. dollar.
<...>

“The Turkish lira’s volatility and rising inflation was seen in recent months has led our investors to see cryptocurrency as a profitable investment in the long term and as a hedge against inflation in the short term,” she said.

Basically: Bitcoin fixes this.