Turkish central bank bans use of crypto assets due to significant risks

ANKARA: Turkey's central bank said on Friday that it banned the use of crypto assets in payments as they entailed significant risks due to volatile market values, irrevocable transactions and are used in illegal actions.

"It is considered that their use in payments may cause non-recoverable losses for the parties to the transactions due to the above-listed factors and they include elements that may undermine the confidence in methods and instruments used currently in payments," the central bank said in a statement.

The central bank also stated that these assets were "neither subject to any regulation and supervision mechanisms nor a central regulatory authority," among other security risks.

In an overnight legislation, Turkey's central bank banned the use of cryptocurrencies and crypto assets to purchase goods and services, a week after Turkish authorities demanded user information from trading platforms.