Turkey’s Central Bank Bans Use Of Crypto

In the early days of the cryptocurrency market, the public view of the market was subject to various criticisms, as many financial regulators couldn’t grasp the idea of digital assets, especially Bitcoin. However, the cryptocurrencies’ perception started to change rapidly, as many nations started to adopt it, and the market started to witness an upturn in fortunes. However, it appears that Turkey and its apex financial regulatory body are taking the crypto community in the European country back to the stone age. The nation’s Central Bank has announced that citizens can no longer use crypto as payments for goods and services.

CBRT sights security reasons behind the ban

In a new report by the Central Bank of Turkey (CBRT), the country’s financial regulators have announced that paying for goods and services with cryptocurrencies will no longer be possible in the country as of 30th April 2021. This new development has come as a surprise to many analysts in the country, who believed that the country’s crypto adoption is at an ATH. Unfortunately, the country’s apex financial body has now restricted its adoption at such a crucial time for cryptocurrency adoption in the country.

Surprisingly, the massive adoption of cryptocurrency in Turkey has come when the country’s inflation rate is at an ATH, as citizens have flocked to digital assets to maximize profits. However, the CBRT has now restricted the adoption of cryptocurrencies, sighting several security risks around using the digital assets for payment. They believe that there is no regulatory framework to guide citizens in using crypto for payments, as the country has now become one of the most crypto adoptive nations in Europe. The country’s citizens are credited as one of the most crypto adoptive nations in the middle east, and the CBRT believes that the situation deserves to be under some control, hence why the ban.

Bitcoin dips again

Unfortunately, while Turkey is the latest nation to restrict crypto trading activities in its terrain, they are not the only ones. Earlier in the year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had also placed restrictions on its citizens concerning crypto trading by disallowing the country’s naira to be used from purchasing cryptocurrency from any crypto exchange in the world.

Citizens of the crypto-resistant nation were forced to purchase cryptocurrencies via peer-to-peer, as their government has continued to restrict the growth of cryptocurrency in the nation. That policy came as a shock to many crypto analysts in the country, who have touted Nigeria as one of the fastest ground where crypto has thrived in Africa.

However, like many crypto analysts in Nigeria, many are optimistic that the government will review its policies soon and probably develop something that will be a win-win for all. Unfortunately, Turkey’s news restricting crypto adoption has also coincided with Bitcoin losing its grip on its new ATH, as the digital assets have floundered by more than 3% since yesterday and currently trade around the $60K mark at the time of writing.