The Turkish government is drafting legislation that would allow its financial crime watchdog, Masak, to freeze cryptocurrency accounts, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The move would broaden Masak’s anti-money laundering (AML) mandate to include digital assets, extending powers it already holds over traditional bank accounts.
The bill would align with recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the international body that sets standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. No timetable has been provided for when the draft will reach the Grand National Assembly, according to Bloomberg.
If enacted, Masak could freeze or close accounts across payment systems, e-money institutions, banks and crypto exchanges. It would also be able to impose transaction caps or blacklist wallets linked to criminal activity. Officials said a priority is tackling “rented accounts,” where individuals are paid to let criminals use their accounts for illegal gambling or fraud.
While crypto trading remains legal in Turkey, the government has been steadily tightening oversight. The Finance Ministry is preparing rules that would require exchanges to collect more information on transaction sources and purposes and restrict stablecoin transfers. In July, the Capital Markets Board (CMB) blocked access to several platforms offering “unauthorized” services, including decentralized exchange PancakeSwap.
The new bill would deepen the regulatory toolkit by adding account-freezing authority to Masak, the country’s main financial intelligence unit. Market observers say the measure reflects Ankara’s effort to align with FATF standards, after the watchdog placed Turkey on its “grey list” in 2021 for deficiencies in combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
Turkey ranks 14th globally in Chainalysis’s latest Global Crypto Adoption Index. Adoption has been driven less by speculation than by economic pressures, as citizens seek alternatives to the weakening lira. Chainalysis data show steady growth in retail use, while centralized exchanges and institutional crypto services are expanding in the market.
The lira has been sliding since 2018 amid persistent inflation, rising borrowing costs and loan defaults. As a result, Turkish households have increasingly turned to dollar-pegged stablecoins and Bitcoin as stores of value. One Bitcoin was worth about 100,000 lira in 2020. Today, the figure exceeds 4.6 million lira, a reflection of both the currency’s collapse and Bitcoin’s long-term appreciation.
Authorities have not specified when the draft bill will be introduced. Market participants expect further consultation with lawmakers and regulators before the legislation is finalized. For the government, the challenge is to balance FATF compliance and financial crime prevention with the reality of one of the world’s fastest-growing retail crypto markets.
The next phase will show whether Ankara’s approach narrows illicit activity without driving users and capital offshore, a risk regulators in other high-adoption economies are also weighing.
