Turkey Announces Plans for National Blockchain Infrastructure

The Turkish government has announced plans to establish a national blockchain infrastructure to utilize distributed ledger technology (DLT) in public administration.

The Ministry of Industry and Technology set out its vision during its Strategy 2023 presentation on Sept. 18 in Ankara.

Strategy 2023 emphasizes blockchain and DLT as priorities for the coming year. The document refers to a Startup Genome survey that marks blockchain as one of the fastest-growing tech trends, with a 101.5% increase in early stage startup funding globally.

Regulatory sandbox for blockchain is coming

The Strategy 2023 document says a new open-source platform for blockchain will be established in Turkey. This initiative will analyze different use cases such as land registration, academic certificates and customs to determine potential public sector applications.

The Ministry of Industry and Technology is also planning to work with Turkish regulators to create a regulatory sandbox for blockchain applications.

Turkish government uses the B-word

As Cointelegraph Turkish reported today, Strategy 2023 is the first ministry-level document in Turkey to include the word "Bitcoin" (BTC) as a reference. Turkey released an economic roadmap in July that describes a central bank-issued digital currency, but did not mention Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. Strategy 2023 also provides this definition of blockchain technology:

"Blockchain, which became popular with virtual currencies like Bitcoin, delivers a distributed communication infrastructure to provide trust between parties on transactions without the need for a central authority. This feature enables many different use cases that address transparency and reliability issues, from smart contracts to supply chains. Because it removes any intermediaries, blockchain technology builds new business models that will shape the future."

Turkish institutions have been embracing blockchain technology in various spheres. In August, the Istanbul Blockchain and Innovation Center (BlockchainIST Center) was inaugurated at Bahçeşehir University. The center’s director, Bora Erdamar, said BlockchainIST will be “the most important center of research and development and innovation in Turkey in which scientific studies and publications are made in blockchain technologies.”

Earlier this month, Turkey's Istanbul Clearing, Settlement and Custody Bank (Takasbank) announced a blockchain-based platform for trading physical gold. Takasbank’s new project aims to enable users to transfer physical gold stored at the Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange.