FSB urges Turkey to strengthen crypto and stablecoin regulation

On November 11, 2026, the Financial Stability Board urged Turkey to establish a dedicated regulatory framework for stablecoins, warning of financial stability risks from digital dollarisation. Turks spent 4.3% of national GDP buying stablecoins to hedge against persistent inflation and lira depreciation, driving nearly $200 billion in annual crypto transactions. Although Turkish regulators implemented exchange licensing and domestic payment bans, the FSB highlighted monitoring blind spots over offshore derivatives venues and self-custody wallets.

FSB crypto peer review

• ▪The FSB published a peer review, evaluating Turkey's implementation of standards and recommendations for regulating crypto assets and stablecoins
• ▪The Financial Stability Board reported that Turkey made meaningful progress in crypto oversight by introducing registration, licensing, and operational requirements for crypto service providers in March 2025
• ▪Turkey saw nearly $200 billion worth of crypto asset transactions in 2025 according to data cited in the Financial Stability Board's peer review published November 11, 2026

Turkey stablecoin demand

• ▪Dollar-pegged stablecoins accounted for approximately 17% of on-chain crypto transactions in Turkey in 2025, while locally issued lira stablecoin BiLira held a market value of nearly $5.9 million
• ▪Turkish citizens spent 4.3% of the country's GDP buying stablecoins, representing the highest stablecoin demand relative to economy size in the world, according to 2024 Chainalysis data cited by the Financial Stability Board

Offshore trading blind spots

• ▪Turkish traders route leverage and derivatives trading to offshore platforms because Turkish regulators only approve domestically registered platforms to offer spot trading
• ▪Turkish trading platform BtcTurk suffered three security breaches in two years, including a recent incident that resulted in the loss of about $48 million
• ▪Turkey's Crypto Asset Central Registry System monitoring platform creates blind spots because it only pulls data from domestically licensed exchanges, missing funds on foreign venues and self-custody wallets

FSB policy recommendations

• ▪The Financial Stability Board recommended that Turkish authorities establish dedicated stablecoin regulations governing token reserves, redemptions, transparent reserve management, and timely cash-out rights
• ▪The Financial Stability Board urged Turkish regulators to build a formal framework for monitoring financial stability risks, collect centralized market data, and expand information sharing with overseas regulators

Digital dollarisation risk

• ▪The Financial Stability Board described the lack of a regulatory framework for stablecoin issuers in Turkey as a core financial stability concern due to strong foreign-exchange-linked channels and digital dollarisation risks
• ▪Turkey implemented regulatory safeguards to limit financial system contagion from crypto assets, including prohibiting crypto assets for domestic payments and requiring segregation of custody assets

Lira depreciation hedging

• ▪Turkish citizens increasingly adopt Tether's USDT and other dollar-pegged stablecoins to shield their savings from high inflation and sustained lira depreciation
• ▪Turkey's regulatory push follows a $20 billion investment fund scandal that left millions of Turkish investors out of pocket