Announcement Regarding Crypto Asset Service Providers
July 02, 2024
As is known, the âLaw on Amendments to the Capital Markets Lawâ numbered 7518 was published in the Official Gazette dated 02.07.2024 and numbered 32590 and entered into force. With the said regulation, crypto asset service providers operating or to operate in our country have been placed under the regulatory and supervisory authority of our Board within the scope of the Capital Markets Law numbered 6362 (Law).
Within the scope of the said regulation, any environment where one or more of the activities of buying and selling, exchanging, transferring crypto assets and the custody services required for these, as well as the storage and management of crypto assets or private keys that provide the right to transfer these assets from the wallet are carried out as a regular occupation, commercial or professional activity, falls within the scope of this Law, and those who fail to fulfill the obligations specified in the Law will be subject to action in accordance with Articles 99/A and 109/A of the Law.
In the first paragraph of the Temporary Article 11 added to Law No. 6362 by the regulation; âThose who were carrying out crypto asset service providing activities on the date of entry into force of the Law establishing this article must apply to the Board with the documents to be determined by the Board within one month from the effective date and submit a declaration that they will make the necessary applications to obtain an activity permit by meeting the conditions to be stipulated in the secondary regulations to be issued in accordance with the provisions of Articles 35/B and 35/C of the Law or that they will make a liquidation decision within three months without harming the rights and interests of the customers and that they will not accept new customers during the liquidation process. Those who want to start their activities after the entry into force of the Law establishing this article must apply to the Board before starting their activities and declare that they will make the necessary applications to obtain an activity permit by meeting the conditions to be stipulated in the secondary regulations. Applications made to the Board within the scope of this paragraph are announced on the Board website. The institutions that will be liquidated shall announce this situation on their websites and also notify their customers via e-mail, text message, telephone and similar means of communication.â
Within this framework; Those who are carrying out crypto asset service providing activities as of 02.07.2024 and intend to continue to do so are required to submit their declarations in accordance with the first paragraph of Temporary Article 11, together with the information, documents and explanations in Annex/1 and Annex/2, in writing to our Board until 02.08.2024.
Those who are operating as crypto asset service providers as of 02.07.2024 and will decide to liquidate because they do not intend to continue this activity are required to submit their declarations regarding the liquidation decision and the fact that they will not accept new customers during the liquidation process, and their explanations regarding how they will conduct the liquidation process in the form in Annex 2 to our Board in writing until 02.08.2024. In this context, institutions that will be required to take a liquidation decision by 02.10.2024 pursuant to the Law shall announce this situation on their websites, and also notify their customers via e-mail, text message, telephone and similar means of communication, without prejudice to the relevant provisions of the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102. The responsibility for the proper communication of notifications to customers belongs to the institutions that will be liquidated.
Organizations that want to start their activities after the effective date of the Law but before the secondary regulations to be issued by our Board come into force are required to submit their declarations in accordance with the first paragraph of Temporary Article 11, together with the information, documents and explanations in Annex 1 and Annex 2, to our Board in writing before starting their activities.
Applications made to the Board will be announced under the âInstitutions/Crypto Asset Service Providersâ tab on our Boardâs website in two separate lists, the âList of Those in Operationâ and the âList of Those Making Liquidation Declarationsâ, and the current lists can be accessed at https://spk.gov.tr/kurumlar/kripto-varlik-hizmet-saglayicilar. Incomplete or insufficient applications will not be included in the âList of Those in Operationâ.
After the secondary regulations to be issued by our Board in accordance with the Law come into force, no activity can be carried out by any organization not included in this list without obtaining permission from the Board. Again, organizations included in this list will continue their activities, but will also apply for an activity permit under the conditions to be specified in the secondary regulations.
Action may be taken against those who have not applied to our Board in the manner and by the date specified above, in accordance with the provisions of Articles 99/A and 109/A of the Law.
It is useful to remind that the failure of these institutions to fulfill the transfer requests of customers who have accounts in institutions that prefer to go into liquidation or do not apply to the Board within the specified period will constitute the crime of unauthorized crypto asset service providing activity within the scope of Article 109/A, and these persons may be punished with imprisonment from three to five years and a judicial fine from five thousand days to ten thousand days.
The first paragraph of Article 99/A of the Law includes the following provisions: âActivities conducted by platforms established abroad targeting persons resident in Turkey or offering a prohibited activity related to crypto assets to persons resident in Turkey within the scope of the regulations to be made by the Board are also considered unauthorized crypto asset service provision. In the event that any of the following situations exist, such as opening a workplace in Turkey, creating a Turkish website, or engaging in promotional and marketing activities directly and/or through persons or institutions resident in Turkey regarding the crypto asset services offered by platforms established abroad, the activities are deemed to be targeted at persons resident in Turkey. Additional criteria for determining that the activities are targeted at persons resident in Turkey may be determined by the Board.â Within this framework, crypto asset service providers established abroad must terminate their activities targeting persons resident in Turkey as specified in the first paragraph of Article 99/A of the Law by 02.10.2024 at the latest. After this date, the provisions of Articles 99/A and 109/A of the Law will be applied to those who continue to engage in activities targeting persons resident in Turkey in the specified manner.
The activities of ATMs and similar electronic transaction devices located in Turkey that allow customers to convert crypto assets into cash or cash into crypto assets and to transfer crypto assets must also be terminated by 02.10.2024 at the latest. The provisions of Articles 99/A and 109/A of the Law will be applied to those who continue to operate after this date and those who enable this. $SHIB $PEPE $FLOKI
