Spot Bitcoin ETF in the Middle East’s Heavyweight: Türkiye?
Türkiye is the largest crypto-asset market in the Middle East.
USD 136.8 billion in on-chain volume (Jul 2023 – Jun 2024)
The latest 2024 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report from Chainalysis shows that Türkiye received more than USD 136 billion over the most-recent 12-month measurement window, enough to put the country 7th worldwide and a clear No. 1 in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region.
~40 % of all MENA activity
MENA as a whole handled USD 338.7 billion in the same period, which means roughly two out of every five crypto dollars that entered the region landed in Turkish wallets or exchanges.
Next-closest regional peers are far smaller.
- United Arab Emirates: just over USD 30 billion (3rd-largest market in MENA).
- Morocco: USD 12.7 billion (second MENA country in the global top-30 adoption index).
- Saudi Arabia is the region’s fastest-growing market, but even with triple-digit growth it still trails Türkiye by a wide margin.
Why Türkiye dominates
- Inflation hedge: double-digit CPI and a weakening Turkish Lira drive savers toward stablecoins and other dollar-referenced assets.
- Deep local CEX scene: more than 70 domestic and international exchanges serve Turkish users, ensuring high liquidity.
- Retail + professional mix: 43 % of Turkish transfers are “professional-sized” (USD 10 k – 1 m), a larger share than any other MENA country, signalling both active trading desks and substantial middle-class participation.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO CROSS-LIST A SPOT BITCOIN ETF IN TÜRKİYE?
Before deep diving into this question, it would be better to have a look at the spot-Bitcoin ETFs that have already been cross-listed outside their home market.
| Jurisdiction & ticker | Mechanism | Launch date | Key details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil “IBIT39” on B3 | Brazilian Depositary Receipt (BDR) that represents units of BlackRock’s US-listed IBIT | 1 March 2024 | Gives Brazilian investors on-shore exposure while the underlying ETF continues to trade on NYSE Arca. Admin-fee 0.25 %. |
| Germany, France & Netherlands “IB1T” (Xetra & Paris) / “BTCN” (Amsterdam) | Direct cross-listing of a physically-backed ETP issued by BlackRock and backed by the same Coinbase-custodied Bitcoin pool as IBIT | 25 March 2025 | Lists simultaneously on Deutsche Börse Xetra and the two Euronext venues; temporary fee rebate cuts TER to 0.15 % for 2025. |
These executions provide a promising basis for Türkiye, the largest crypto-asset market in the Middle East, to introduce spot-Bitcoin ETFs in Borsa Istanbul (BIST) via cross-listing. It already has the legal tools (cross-listing rules plus the 2024 amendments to the Capital Markets Law) but needs an issuer to pull the trigger and the Capital Markets Board (CMB) to bless the structure.
The required route for this purpose would be as the following:
- Draft & file a Turkish prospectus
A local asset-manager (or a foreign issuer acting with a Turkish broker) must lodge a “simplified prospectus” for an ETF that references an already-approved foreign spot-Bitcoin ETF such as IBIT. - CMB authorisation
The CMB must: (a) sign off the prospectus, and (b) formally recognise the NYSE Arca (or another home exchange) as an “accepted foreign market” for this specific ETF class. - Admission to BIST order books
Once the CMB approval lands, BIST’s Listing Committee allocates a Turkish ISIN and ticker (e.g., “IBIT.TK”), sets the first trading day and designates market-makers. - Clearing & custody plumbing
Türkiye’s Central Securities Depository (MKK) and clearing house (Takasbank) establish links with the ETF’s foreign custodian so that every ETF unit issued at BIST is fully matched with the underlying US shares or Bitcoin reserves. - Go-live disclosure
The issuer posts a launch notice in the CMB’s periodic bulletin and BIST’s “Announcements” feed; only then does secondary trading begin.