[2021-12-25] Turkey President: Crypto Law Headed to Parliament

[zasad@]

Turkey President: Crypto Law Headed to Parliament
But there’s no crypto ban in sight.
Turkey’s draft crypto bill is ready and will soon be sent to parliament, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Friday during a press conference in Istanbul.
https://decrypt.co/89311/turkey-president-crypto-law-headed-parliament
https://www.ntv.com.tr/turkiye/son-dakika-haberi-cumhurbaskani-erdogan-kripto-para-yasasi-hazir,P5QER09qME6UYJkL72A-KA

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[bbc.reporter]

This is very good news for the people in Turkey who want to have an easier way to escape from their currency to bitcoin hehe. I speculate FTX’s CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was one of the people who made some encouragement for the Turkish government to do this. FTX has been advertising their plans for Turkey in social media hehe.

[buwaytress]

Gotta be frank, not abreast with developments there but I do know from connexions that the Lira's on a death spiral, something like 50% value loss in past few months? Hearing all sorts of stories about crypto wealthy buying up property there for bargain prices. Not sure I really enjoy the news like that but if anyone didn't guess Turkey would join the growing list of hyperinflation fiat and bank runs... remember Greece.

[Lucius]

This is very good news for the people in Turkey who want to have an easier way to escape from their currency to bitcoin hehe.

When I read the article I did not get the impression that some good news could be expected - because what will happen better than what already exists? Anyone can buy cryptocurrencies quite legally in Turkey, and statistics say that Turks mostly buy stablecoins, not Bitcoin. The only good thing would be to lift the ban on cryptocurrency payments that has been in place in the country for some time.

The status of cryptocurrency exchanges matters because Turks increasingly use them to sell the Turkish lira for U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins, according to Bayraktar.

I speculate FTX’s CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was one of the people who made some encouragement for the Turkish government to do this. FTX has been advertising their plans for Turkey in social media hehe.

Do you think that the CEO of crypto exchange calls President Erdogan and suggests what to do about the cryptocurrency in Turkey? That’s a little too much though, even for speculation.

Gotta be frank, not abreast with developments there but I do know from connexions that the Lira's on a death spiral, something like 50% value loss in past few months?

The Turkish lira has fallen by 34% against the U.S. dollar this year but has gone up by 41% this week after a precipitous drop earlier this year, according to TradingView. The greenback is widely seen as a store of value in Turkey, where the local currency sometimes trades like a volatile memecoin.

Down and up and so on for years, I no longer see it as something to wonder about. In my opinion, there are only two options as to why this is happening:

- the first is that the Turkish government is very incompetent and the country is run by completely incompetent people.
- another reason is that there are factors in the country that want to destabilize the country, remnants of coup attempts that have outside support.

[NeuroticFish]

Although Erdoğan didn’t disclose much in the way of details this time, he said in September that the government “has absolutely no intention of embracing cryptocurrencies.”

I don't know what are the expectations on this, but I guess that it will mostly mean taxes for crypto and regulations for crypto businesses.
I don't know how was crypto seen by Turkey until now, but the only good part I see is that they don't ban it.
And since afaik crypro was not illegal in Turkey, the news are not particularly good.

the Lira's on a death spiral, something like 50% value loss in past few months? Hearing all sorts of stories about crypto wealthy buying up property there for bargain prices.

It was bad. It did recover a little, but still not good. And the news about the bargain prices were related to anybody having anything else than Turkish Lira, i.e. the foreigners. And this was quite a blow since Erdogan's rhetoric used to be anti-foreigners.

Still this news is not that much related to Lira's problems. All governments see crypto as a cow that needs to be milked ASAP.

[buwaytress]

Gotta be frank, not abreast with developments there but I do know from connexions that the Lira's on a death spiral, something like 50% value loss in past few months?

Down and up and so on for years, I no longer see it as something to wonder about. In my opinion, there are only two options as to why this is happening:

- the first is that the Turkish government is very incompetent and the country is run by completely incompetent people.
- another reason is that there are factors in the country that want to destabilize the country, remnants of coup attempts that have outside support.

Yeah, I know it's been trending down but this year was something special, judging from the Erdogan memes I've been seeing all over the place. Only got into this as had some Turkish linkages with crypto about 2/3 years ago when they got dumped on suddenly by the usual suspects (used to be Tranferwise, then they cracked down on Turkish accounts, but not as bad as Revolut that just froze monies no amount of KYC could solve).

It's highly political as you say, and Lira's been weaponised to a tired dead horse but even that seems to have lost its flavour...

It was bad. It did recover a little, but still not good. And the news about the bargain prices were related to anybody having anything else than Turkish Lira, i.e. the foreigners. And this was quite a blow since Erdogan's rhetoric used to be anti-foreigners.

Not all foreigners though. Us in Southeast Asia aren't seeing fiat slide as badly, but I think it's only a matter of time. My state's fiat has been on par with the neighbours but ever since the 90s depeg, we've been seeing value vs dollar, franc, euro, pound all slide slowly and inevitably.

BTC may have gone whatever x in the past 10 years in USD, but we've lost almost 20% value vs that in the same period of time so Bitcoin's appreciated even more in Southeast Asia. Which is why only the crypto-wealthy Southeast Asians would be off to Turkey buying "cheap" homes haha.

[NeuroticFish]

Not all foreigners though. Us in Southeast Asia aren't seeing fiat slide as badly, but I think it's only a matter of time. My state's fiat has been on par with the neighbours but ever since the 90s depeg, we've been seeing value vs dollar, franc, euro, pound all slide slowly and inevitably.

BTC may have gone whatever x in the past 10 years in USD, but we've lost almost 20% value vs that in the same period of time so Bitcoin's appreciated even more in Southeast Asia. Which is why only the crypto-wealthy Southeast Asians would be off to Turkey buying "cheap" homes haha.

Of course, those living in countries with stronger currency are favored.
In my country too the inflation is high. Somehow the "value" of the currency is artificially kept to not go south too fast, but it's still bad. Many of those who can try to keep their savings in EUR or USD. I hope they'll learn about Bitcoin too.

But I think that it's not so much about crypto wealthy. Those who are wealthy - whether from crypto or not - had money to spend/invest. Also some of those having money put aside, could invest. I don't know, some may have been even getting loans from the bank for this purpose. It was a good business. Maybe it still is. At least for some. I am a bit afraid of what can happen in Turkey if the president decides so (I find it just a small step away from an authoritarian state; and then confiscations from foreigners is possible too.)

[bbc.reporter]

This is very good news for the people in Turkey who want to have an easier way to escape from their currency to bitcoin hehe.

When I read the article I did not get the impression that some good news could be expected - because what will happen better than what already exists? Anyone can buy cryptocurrencies quite legally in Turkey, and statistics say that Turks mostly buy stablecoins, not Bitcoin. The only good thing would be to lift the ban on cryptocurrency payments that has been in place in the country for some time.

The status of cryptocurrency exchanges matters because Turks increasingly use them to sell the Turkish lira for U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins, according to Bayraktar.

I speculate FTX’s CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was one of the people who made some encouragement for the Turkish government to do this. FTX has been advertising their plans for Turkey in social media hehe.

Do you think that the CEO of crypto exchange calls President Erdogan and suggests what to do about the cryptocurrency in Turkey? That’s a little too much though, even for speculation.

It is good news. The crypto law will make everything clear for exchanges, payment processors and users on how to be compliant.

Also, no not the president hehehe. What the CEO is certainly doing is he is working with the regulators of Turkey, similar to all the other jurisdictions and territories they are working with.

[electronicash]

the country is in financial turmoil so i could understand if they make a crypto bill intended to get tax but the disappearance of the 2 exchanges overnight seems not thier way of doing it, they're trying to steal from the crypto traders.

though they have higher inflation they can convince thier people that thier currency is better than crypto. after all, crypto is not allowed in thier sharia laws.

[ingiltere]

the country is in financial turmoil so i could understand if they make a crypto bill intended to get tax but the disappearance of the 2 exchanges overnight seems not thier way of doing it, they're trying to steal from the crypto traders.
though they have higher inflation they can convince thier people that thier currency is better than crypto. after all, crypto is not allowed in thier sharia laws.

There is not sharia law, where do you get that? Republic of Türkiye is a modern country which runs by democracy, not some medieval religious bullshit.
Country's financial problem is about political weakness, we can probably see better financial position after elections when these crooks go. This crypto law will probably not be a good one as they hear suggestions from incapable no-name people. If they put any tax, whether high or low, that would be a disaster and last smart money inside the country will go to other parts of the world. We will see if they care about that or not.

[zasad@]

the country is in financial turmoil so i could understand if they make a crypto bill intended to get tax but the disappearance of the 2 exchanges overnight seems not thier way of doing it, they're trying to steal from the crypto traders.

though they have higher inflation they can convince thier people that thier currency is better than crypto. after all, crypto is not allowed in thier sharia laws.

Sharia law does not prohibit all cryptocurrencies. There are certain restrictions on lending platforms, for example, but Bitcoin is allowed.
I communicate with business representatives in Turkey, and nothing terrible happens there. The prices for citizens have not increased much in stores, but for businessmen from other countries and tourists, this is a good opportunity to buy cheaper Turkish goods.

[Lucius]

This crypto law will probably not be a good one as they hear suggestions from incapable no-name people. If they put any tax, whether high or low, that would be a disaster and last smart money inside the country will go to other parts of the world. We will see if they care about that or not.

If I understand you correctly, Turkey does not tax cryptocurrencies at the moment, first of all I mean capital gains? I don't know exactly which countries you mean, but most democracies and developed countries have taxes on cryptocurrencies, so I don't see any alternatives for Turkish smart money unless everyone moves their business to El Salvador.

It would be ideal if there were no taxes at all, but since taxes have historically been a source of revenue for every state, non-payment of them would lead to everything that is declaratively free no longer being free.