{"id":234871,"date":"2021-04-24T23:20:52","date_gmt":"2021-04-24T20:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/turkey-probes-second-crypto-exchange-as-market-implodes\/"},"modified":"2021-04-24T23:20:52","modified_gmt":"2021-04-24T20:20:52","slug":"turkey-probes-second-crypto-exchange-as-market-implodes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/turkey-probes-second-crypto-exchange-as-market-implodes\/","title":{"rendered":"#Turkey probes second crypto exchange as market implodes"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Turkey probes second crypto exchange as market implodes<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\"The
\n The volume of crypto purchases in Turkey rose 10-fold between November and March
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Turkey on Saturday detained the chief of one of the country’s biggest cryptocurrency firms after launching a manhunt for the founder of another exchange who fled to Albania.<\/p>\n

The Turkish crypto boom threatens to go bust quickly as companies fold and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government prepares to rein in the unregulated digital currency market.<\/p>\n

The volume of crypto purchases in the nation of 84 million people rose 10-fold between November and March as Turks sought ways to preserve their savings during a steep drop in the value of the lira currency.<\/p>\n

But the market began to unravel when the Istanbul-based Thodex exchange’s founder Faruk Fatih Ozer fled to Albania with a reported $2 billion in investors’ assets this week.<\/p>\n

Thodex shut down while holding investments from nearly 400,000 users.<\/p>\n

Turkey issued an international arrest warrant and detained dozens of Thodex employees in raids staged across the country on Friday.<\/p>\n

Officials also blocked the account of the Vebitcoin exchange\u2014one of Turkey’s five-largest\u2014and launched an investigation after it also abruptly ceased operations.<\/p>\n

Local news<\/a> reports said police detained Vebitcoin chief executive Ilker Bas and three other company employees on Saturday as part of a broader fraud probe.<\/p>\n

“Due to the recent developments in the crypto money industry, our transactions have become much more intense than expected,” Vebitcoin said on its website.<\/p>\n

“We would like to state with regret that this situation has led us to a very difficult process in the financial field. We have decided to cease our activities in order to fulfil all regulations and claims.”<\/p>\n

Stolen wallets<\/b><\/p>\n

Data shared with AFP by the Chainalysis and Kaiko analytics firms show the daily volume of all crypto purchases in Turkey rising from around 500 million liras ($60 million) in November to as much as six billion liras in March.<\/p>\n

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\"Faruk
\n Faruk Fatih Ozer fled to Albania holding a reported $2 billion in investors’ assets
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Coinhills ranks Turkey as the fifth-biggest crypto market in the world.<\/p>\n

It could be bigger still because many Turkish traders use popular off-shore exchanges in countries such as Malta.<\/p>\n

But Erdogan’s government is preparing to tighten regulations after deciding to ban cryptos from being used for purchases of goods and services starting on April 30.<\/p>\n

The Turkish central bank warned last week that cryptocurrencies “entail significant risks”.
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“Wallets can be stolen or used unlawfully without the authorisation of their holders,” the central bank said.<\/p>\n

The problems at Thodex started after it ran a promotion offering Dogecoins to investors at one-fourth the price the popular currency was selling on other exchanges.<\/p>\n

But Thodex users complained that it was a scam that prevented them from re-selling the coins at their full market value or trading them for other cryptos.<\/p>\n

Turkish prosecutors accused Ozer of “aggravated fraud and founding a criminal organisation”.<\/p>\n

The tumult in Turkey created ripples across the global crypto market and saw the value of bitcoin slip back under $50,000 after reaching $57,000 at the start of the week.<\/p>\n

Analysts say the lack of oversight makes users more susceptible to fraud in Turkey than they would be in countries, where digital trades are reported to officials and taxed.<\/p>\n

“Because cryptocurrency is currently unregulated (in Turkey), it could be more vulnerable to abuse and illicit activity,” Chainalysis’s government affairs chief Jesse Spiro told AFP.<\/p>\n

“In general<\/a>, regulations help build trust in this new asset class. On the other hand, the instability of the lira could make cryptocurrency more attractive.”\n <\/p>\n\n

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Turkey seeks arrest of crypto boss over huge fraud, detains dozens\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Turkey probes second crypto exchange as market implodes (2021, April 24)
\n retrieved 24 April 2021
\n from https:\/\/techxplore.com\/news\/2021-04-turkey-probes-crypto-exchange-implodes.html<\/p>\n

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