Turkish unit of crypto exchange Binance fined, news agency says

ANKARA: Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) imposed an 8 million lira ($751,314) fine on the local unit of cryptocurrency exchange Binance over violations found during liability inspections, the Anadolu news agency said on Saturday.

The fine imposed on BN Teknoloji was the first of its kind after the authority took on responsibilities to oversee crypto asset service providers in May, the state-owned news agency said, without elaborating on the violations or inspections.

A Binance spokesperson said the company did not discuss publicly its communications with the authorities and regulators. MASAK could not be reached for comment at the weekend.

Turkey’s lira rallied further on Thursday and was on track for its best week in two decades, boosted by a government plan to protect some deposits and the added support of state banks aggressively selling dollars.

The lira rallied as much as 10pc to 10.25 versus the dollar, its strongest level in a month, before paring most of those gains to trade at 11.395 at close of business.

The currency has whipsawed back from a historic low of 18.4 on Monday when it was down some 60pc on the year, capping a week of record volatility and intraday swings.