The Financial Stability Board (FSB), the international body that coordinates financial stability standards, is urging Türkiye to go beyond licensing crypto asset exchanges and establish a comprehensive regulatory system for the sector. In its latest peer review report, released on Nov. 11, the global standard-setter found that Turkish authorities have made substantial progress in their oversight and regulatory efforts, but still remain somewhat short of full alignment with the FSB's global crypto regulatory framework. The board commended Türkiye for making meaningful progress in crypto regulation while flagging areas that require further work. Peer reviews of this kind are the FSB's standard instrument for checking how individual jurisdictions implement its internationally agreed recommendations, which makes the findings a benchmark Türkiye will be measured against as it completes its framework.

Türkiye Has Brought More Crypto Firms Into Regulation

Türkiye has already drawn the majority of its crypto market into the regulatory perimeter. In March 2025, the Capital Markets Board issued detailed provisions for crypto asset service providers, covering establishment and activities as well as capital requirements. Those rules came in the wake of a legal amendment in 2024 that transferred regulatory control of crypto service providers to the regulator.

The FSB also took note of measures intended to limit financial connections between crypto markets and traditional finance. These include the requirement to segregate customer assets held in custody and the ban on the use of cryptocurrencies in domestic payments imposed in the Republic of Türkiye. In addition, a centralized data platform has been established to track crypto activity. Interconnections of exactly this kind are what the FSB's framework treats as the main channel through which stress in crypto markets could spill over into the wider financial system.

Stablecoins Remain the Biggest Regulatory Gap

The clearest gap identified by the FSB concerns stablecoins. Stablecoins are crypto assets designed to hold a steady value, typically pegged to a fiat currency, and the FSB addresses them separately in its 2023 recommendations because of the role they can play in payments and settlement. At the time of the FSB's 2025 thematic review, Türkiye had completed its broader crypto regulations, although a dedicated framework for stablecoins had not been put in place. The most recent review once again calls for the establishment of one.

The FSB also wants Türkiye to create a formal crypto market monitoring framework to track the potential impacts of crypto markets on financial markets. Such a system would shift the focus away from supervising specific exchanges and custodians toward monitoring overall market exposure, interconnections and potential spillovers into banking and payments.

FSB Seeks Stronger Enforcement and Cross-Border Coordination

The review further calls for tougher supervision and enforcement. Domestic laws lose much of their effectiveness when regulators take a long time to share information with counterparts abroad, given that crypto platforms routinely operate across multiple jurisdictions. The FSB therefore recommends more robust mutual collaboration and information-sharing measures, in addition to Türkiye's domestic licensing process.

The Capital Markets Board of Türkiye maintains a list of crypto asset service providers, which is intended to identify entities planning to operate under the new regime on a provisional basis. The regulator explicitly states that inclusion on the list does not imply that a business is fully authorized.

The peer review forms part of the FSB's wider campaign to ensure that all jurisdictions implement its 2023 recommendations for cross-border crypto markets and global stablecoin arrangements. The specific items the review names — a dedicated stablecoin framework, a formal crypto market monitoring system and stronger cross-border information-sharing — now delineate what Turkish authorities would need to deliver for the FSB to consider the country fully aligned with its global framework.

This article was originally published by Crypto Ninjas.