Turkey’s financial regulator, the Capital Markets Board (CMB), announced it had blocked 46 websites, including the popular decentralized exchange PancakeSwap. CMB blocked them from providing unauthorized crypto asset services to Turkish residents.
PancakeSwap is one of the world’s top decentralized exchanges, with over $325 billion in trading volume in June. Another affected platform is Cryptoradar. The CMB used the Capital Markets Law to justify the ban, although it’s unclear how it determined these platforms were offering services directly to Turkish users.
Turkey has been gradually increasing control over the crypto space. Since March 2025, the CMB has had full authority to regulate crypto service providers. In addition, since February, anyone making crypto transactions worth $425 or more must provide identification details. While Turks can still buy, hold, and trade cryptocurrencies, using them as a form of payment has been banned since 2021.
Additionally, Turkey is going a step further. The Ministry of Treasury and Finance, led by Mehmet Şimşek, is preparing strict new rules to combat money laundering and improve oversight. The new rules will require users to include a 20-character note with every crypto transfer.
Regulators in several countries have blocked crypto websites, saying they were unregistered or involved in illegal activities. Governments in Kazakhstan, Venezuela, the Philippines, Russia, and others have taken similar actions in the past.
