MASAK Financial Crimes Guide for Crypto Asset Service Providers (Full English Translation of the Guide by CBC Law)

As the cryptocurrency boom continues to take hold of the investment world, governments are making greater efforts to regulate crypto markets. The anonymity of crypto asset transactions and the risk of financial crime using crypto assets has led Turkish authorities to take a number of measures, such as the Turkish Central Bank’s recent regulation banning the use of crypto assets in payments (see our News Alert on the Payment Regulation here).

More recently, the Turkish Financial Crimes Investigation Board ("MASAK") published a guide for Crypto Asset Service Providers, which aims to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism through crypto asset transactions. In this respect, the Guide for Crypto Asset Service Providers has five main obligations: (1) customer identification, (2) reporting suspicious transactions, (3) providing information and documents, (4) consistently providing information, and (5) retention and submission of documents. Click here to read the guidance published in May 2021 (Available in Turkish only).

CBC Law has translated the MASAK guide into English. Click here to read the translation.