IN general, the government of Turkey under two-bit pasha Recep Tayyip Erdoğan does not provide the rest of the world with many opportunities to compliment it for doing something right, but the news over the weekend that Turkey’s central bank has decided to ban the use of cryptocurrency in the country is one of those rare occasions.

To be accurate, Turkey did not ban cryptocurrencies entirely, at least not yet, but only for use as payment for goods and services in the country.The ban implies concerns about the threat they might pose to the confidence in the lira, one of the world’s worst-performing currencies. The move is in line with Turkey’s habit of exercising tight control over online payments; in 2016, the country banned PayPal.

Premium + Digital Edition

Ad-free access


P 80 per month
(billed annually at P 960)
  • Unlimited ad-free access to website articles
  • Limited offer: Subscribe today and get digital edition access for free (accessible with up to 3 devices)

TRY FREE FOR 14 DAYS
See details
See details