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| Dimension |
Pinned 🇰🇷 South Korea partly open Verified 2026-08-15
|
🇹🇷 Turkey
partly open
Verified 2026-08-15
|
|---|---|---|
| Licence type | VASP registration (not a discretionary licence) under the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information (the 'FTRA'/AML Reporting Act, amended effective 25 Mar 2021), which requires: (1) ISMS certification from KISA (Korea Internet & Security Agency); (2) for KRW fiat on/off-ramp services, a bank-issued real-name verified account; plus fit-and-proper/AML program requirements. Layered on top since 19 July 2024 is the Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users (VAUPA), which adds customer-asset segregation, insurance/reserve, and market-abuse rules but does not replace the underlying FTRA registration. | Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) operating licence/permit under Law No. 7518 (amendment to Capital Markets Law No. 6362), adopted 26 June 2024, in force 2 July 2024. Secondary regulation via Communiqués III-35/B.1 (establishment/operating principles) and III-35/B.2 (operating procedures and capital adequacy), published in Official Gazette No. 32840, 13 March 2025. Distinguishes platform operators (exchanges) from custody-only providers. |
| Regulator | Financial Services Commission (FSC), Korea's top financial policymaker; Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU, also referred to as FIU), an FSC-subordinate unit established 2001 under the FTRA that receives and processes VASP registrations and AML reporting; day-to-day supervision/inspection is delegated to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), which set up dedicated Virtual Asset Supervision/Investigation bureaus (announced 29 Nov 2023). FSC retains final sanctioning authority. | Capital Markets Board of Turkey (CMB / Sermaye Piyasası Kurulu, SPK). AML/CFT compliance is separately overseen by MASAK (Financial Crimes Investigation Board). |
| Capital requirement | South Korea capital requirement is included in the £349 pass. | Turkey capital requirement is included in the £349 pass. |
| Timeline to authorisation | South Korea timeline to authorisation is included in the £349 pass. | Turkey timeline to authorisation is included in the £349 pass. |
| Local substance | South Korea local substance is included in the £349 pass. | Turkey local substance is included in the £349 pass. |
| Application cost | South Korea application cost is included in the £349 pass. | Turkey application cost is included in the £349 pass. |
| Ongoing cost | South Korea ongoing cost is included in the £349 pass. | Turkey ongoing cost is included in the £349 pass. |
| Passporting | South Korea passporting is included in the £349 pass. | Turkey passporting is included in the £349 pass. |
| MiCA CASPs approved | South Korea mica casps approved is included in the £349 pass. | Turkey mica casps approved is included in the £349 pass. |
| Key restrictions | South Korea key restrictions is included in the £349 pass. | Turkey key restrictions is included in the £349 pass. |
| Recent changes | The 20 Aug 2026 tightening is now identifiable as Act No. 21358 (amendment to the FTRA/AML Reporting Act), promulgated 19 Feb 2026 and taking effect 20 Aug 2026. It removes the KRW 1,000,000 Travel Rule de minimis threshold and separately expands VASP entry screening: adds a statutory definition of major shareholders, extends fit-and-proper disqualification checks to major shareholders, adds financial condition, social credibility, organisational, staffing and IT review factors, and authorises KoFIU to attach conditions when accepting a VASP report. Existing registered VASPs must re-report under the amended Article 7 within 3 months of the effective date (by approximately 20 Nov 2026). Separately, a Foreign Exchange Transactions Act amendment creating cross-border VASP registration passed 7 May 2026 (effective date disputed, 2 Aug vs 2 Dec 2026). The FSC's implementing-decree package (public comment 30 March to 11 May 2026) adds entry screening for VASP re-reports: a debt-ratio ceiling of 200 per cent excluding customer deposits, a three-year clean default record, fit-and-proper tests for officers and major shareholders, and AML staffing requirements; it removes the KRW 1,000,000 Travel Rule de minimis entirely and treats cross-border transfers of KRW 10,000,000 or more to foreign VASPs or private wallets as automatically suspicious. | Secondary regulations (Communiques III-35/B.1 and III-35/B.2, 13 March 2025) operationalised Law 7518. Following a February 2026 amendment to the Turkish Capital Markets Association (TCMA/TSPB) statute (effective 27 Feb 2026), CMB-licensed Crypto Asset Service Providers must apply for TCMA membership within 3 months of obtaining their CMB operating permit, and a dedicated professional committee for CASPs has been created within the TCMA structure. In March 2026 the CMB extended certain deadlines on custody agreements and authorisation certificates. SPK's annual statutory revaluation (Bulletin 2025/68, Board Decision of 30 December 2025) raised the 2026 minimum capital under Communique III-35/B.2 from TRY 150,000,000 to TRY 250,000,000 for trading platforms and from TRY 500,000,000 to TRY 630,000,000 for custody providers. The final transitional compliance deadline of 30 June 2026 has passed; SPK's provisional lists (rechecked 15 July 2026) still show 56 entities declaring themselves in operation and 52 in liquidation, unchanged from 10 July 2026. |
| Difficulty rating | South Korea difficulty rating is included in the £349 pass. | Turkey difficulty rating is included in the £349 pass. |
Informational only, not legal advice. A delta compares the sortable figure only (capital, timeline, cost, difficulty, passporting, approvals); it is not a judgement on overall suitability. Verify with qualified counsel before acting.
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