Two leading candidates hold opposing views on crypto. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been hostile to bitcoin and supports the central bank's drive to launch a digital lira. Opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu has professed his support for cryptocurrencies and Web3.
If Kilicdaroglu is successful, the local crypto industry could grow significantly, with the candidate having vowed to lift restrictions on PayPal and encourage blockchain and crypto initiatives worth $1bn. Erdogan, meanwhile, maintains Turkey is "at war" with crypto and has "no intention of accepting it". Despite this stance and the absence of proper regulatory frameworks, Turks are showing increasing interest in digital assets as a store of value in times of economic volatility.