Buying something with Bitcoin (BTC) in Turkey will soon be illegal, and the topic of crypto payments has become a political debate since the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey’s April 16 announcement that it will forbid the use of cryptocurrency as a payment method. The regulation, which will go into effect on April 30, also bans the use of digital wallet providers as fiat on-ramps for crypto exchanges.
Cointelegraph Turkey reached out to local blockchain and crypto industry participants for commentary. Ahmet Usta, chief editor of Blockchain Turkey Platform and co-author of Blockchain 101, described Turkey’s first crypto regulation as a “how-not-to-do” rather than a “how-to.” He told Cointelegraph Turkey that the central bank will prohibit two uses: