Report contents
MENA · Emerging
Turkey
Crypto Livability Index 2025·data to 31 Dec 2025
Scoreboard
Five pillars, then the 22 sub-pillars scored 0 to 4. Empty sub-scores are held out of the total, not zeroed.
The number behind the rank
| Raw capability score | 54 / 84 |
| P2P liquidity bonus (tie-breaker) | +4 |
| Inflation 49.5% · unbanked 18% · remittances 0.1% GDP · capital controls 0.84 · sanctions 0 | CNI 0.403 |
| Need multiplier | ×1.105 |
| Livability score | 0.710 |
Raw 54/84 = 0.643 capability. Crypto-Necessity Index 0.40, from five components: inflation 49.5% (three-year average 2023 to 2025), unbanked 18% of adults, remittances 0.1% of GDP, capital-control intensity 0.84 (KAOPEN 2023), sanctions exposure 0. Need multiplier ×1.10. Livability score 0.710, rank #5 of 79.
Three findings
Strong rails plus inflation need lift Turkey 37 places to #5
Turkey ranks #42 on raw capability but #5 once need is applied, because the Crypto-Necessity Index reads 0.40 on inflation near 50 percent and tight capital controls. Unlike the necessity markets that ride thin infrastructure, Turkey already has the rails: a full CASP (crypto-asset service provider) licensing regime, top-band exchange access, and a top-tier P2P (peer-to-peer trading between individuals) liquidity bonus. The lira's structural devaluation drives one of the largest Tether-accumulation economies on earth.
A regulated asset you still cannot spend at a till
Law 7518 of July 2024, operationalised by the Capital Markets Board communiqués of March 2025, made crypto a recognised, licensed asset class, with BtcTurk, Paribu, Binance TR, ICRYPEX, and Bitexen all licensed and USDT/lira the top Binance global pair. But the 2021 central-bank ban on crypto as a means of payment remains in force, so utility bills score zero: deep trading, no checkout.
Liberalisation and tightening in the same regime
The CASP framework brought legal certainty and bank integration, with four of the top ten Turkish banks now offering crypto services, while simultaneously adding a Travel Rule (mandatory sender and receiver data above 15,000 lira), stablecoin transfer caps, and withdrawal holds. The clarifying push and the friction overlay move together rather than in opposition.
In one line
"Turkey built the Middle East's most complete crypto rulebook and a Tether-accumulation economy at the same time. A lira that loses half its value every few years is the regulator no statute can override, and it pushed Turkey to fifth in the world by need."
Watch in 2026
Trajectory 3/4, clarifying with friction. Through 2025 Turkey stood up the full statutory CASP licensing regime under Law 7518 while layering on the February 2025 Travel Rule, stablecoin caps, and withdrawal delays. Watch the post-cutoff 10 percent gains-tax bill unveiled in March 2026 and the licensing of pending applicants including Binance TR and BtcTurk.