Donations made in cryptocurrencies are proving to be a fast and far-reaching means of providing financial aid during times of crisis, according to multiple industry players. This has proven to be the case after devastating earthquakes hit parts of Turkey and Syria in February. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimates that around $5.9 million of donations have been made to support relief efforts in the region in the month since the natural disaster took place. The likes of Turkey’s Ministry of Interior Earthquake Humanitarian Aid campaign, Turkish Red Crescent, Save the Children and Project Hope have received cryptocurrency-based donations. In addition, …

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has now made at least two substantial contributions to help the victims of last week’s devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria. The Turkey-Syria 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck on Feb. 6. Its death toll has now risen to 33,000 — one of the nation’s worst in decades. Over the week, the Ethereum co-founder has been one of many actively donating Ethereum to support relief efforts in Turkey. His latest donation on Feb. 12 was for 50 ETH, or approximately $77,000, to Anka Relief as reported by blockchain security firm PeckShield. Anka thanked the Ethereum co-founder for his …

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. In the aftermath of a deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake in southeastern Turkey, the Web3 community has come together to raise awareness and aid for disaster victims. Stablecoins could prove to be a critical factor in larger DeFi adoption, says Aave founder Stani Kulechov. According to the Aave executive, building the “payment layer,” which involves stablecoins, can potentially hook regular people into the space, eventually introducing them into DeFi. On the other hand, S&P Global Ratings …

Turkish automotive company Togg announced a partnership with Metaco, a digital asset custody orchestration technology provider, to secure its open mobility ecosystem built on Avalanche. Togg’s Mobility-as-a-Service platform (MaaS), a.k.a, Mobility Ecosystem, aims to deliver smart contract-powered use cases — including tokenization of mobility services, assessment of CO2 footprint and nonfungible token (NFT) ownership — for users in Türkiye and Europe. The partnership with Metaco will see the use of its digital asset custody and orchestration platform, Harmonize, to safeguard the custody and governance of Togg’s digital assets. Sharing insights on the initiative, Togg CEO M. Gürcan Karakas stated: “Blockchain-enabled …

Türkiye, formerly known as Turkey, plans to use blockchain technology for online public services logins. e-Devlet, Türkiye’s digital government portal used to access a wide range of public services, will use a blockchain-based digital identity to verify Turkish citizens during login. Cointelegraph Turkey reportedFuat Oktay, vice president of the Republic of Türkiye, announced during the Digital Türkiye 2023 event that citizens will be able to use blockchain-based digital identity to access e-wallet application, Cointelegraph Turkey reported. Oktay called the blockchain-based application a revolution for e-government efforts, adding that online services will be more secure and accessible with blockchain. Users will …

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) has completed the first trial of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the Digital Turkish Lira, and has signaled plans to continue testing throughout 2023. According to a statement released by the CBRT on Dec. 29, the central bank authority said it successfully executed its “first payment transactions” using the digital Lira. It said it will continue to run limited, closed circuit pilot tests with technology stakeholders in the first quarter of 2023, before expanding it to include selected banks and financial technology companies in the rest of the year. Press …

The crypto market slump doesn’t mean interest in crypto is also down. A new study from the cryptocurrency education platform CryptoManiaks revealed that many countries are still scouring the internet, hungry for crypto-related information. According to the study, the Netherlands and Turkey take the top two spots, with 8.2% and 5.5% of the population, respectively, searching for crypto-related terms. Turkey particularly accounted for 4.7 million searches, leading the searches with sheer numbers. The study analyzed the combined number of searches for a select set of popular cryptocurrencies into a percentage of the population for each country in order to calculate …

Assets belonging to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have been seized by the country’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board, locally known as MASAK, following the collapse of his main business. An official announcement from Turkey’s MASAK outlined preliminary findings and actions taken against Bankman-Fried following bankruptcy proceedings of its core business. MASAK began investigations on Nov. 14. Cointelegraph translated the latest announcement from MASAK, which highlighted three key points from the investigation. The Turkish investigatory body found that FTX failed to safely store user funds, embezzled customer funds through shady transactions and manipulated supply and demand in the market by having …

Istanbul Blockchain Week opened its doors on Nov. 14 to bring the crypto and blockchain ecosystem together in İstanbul, Turkey. Cointelegraph attended the event with a Cointelegraph Turkey booth and an İstanbul-based editor to experience the impact of the FTX collapse firsthand — the result was unexpected. As an international hub housing more than 15 million people, İstanbul was shaken by a bombing attack in Taksim, the city center, on Nov. 13 evening. Yet, the following day, Istanbul Blockchain Week (IBW) opened its doors to more than 2,000 international attendees and over 100 speakers after consulting with local security authorities. …

Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Agency is the latest authority to announce investigations into crypto exchange FTX after its collapse and bankruptcy filing on Nov.11. Along with FTX, the agency will look into people and institutions related to the platform — including banks, electronic money institutions and crypto-asset providers — according to an official statement from Nov. 14. The regulator also noted that it had been monitoring FTX’s activities in accordance with the country’s Anti-Money Laundering laws. FTX Turkey, FTX’s regional subsidiary, provided a Google Form for users seeking to receive their funds, without specifying a delivery date. On its website …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan unveiled new details about the e-Human project powered by blockchain ahead of Turkey’s national blockchain summit. Cointelegraph Turkey reported the e-Human project will be based on blockchain tech to keep all services, data and capabilities used by the system under protection. While it has a sci-fi name, Turkey’s e-Human project acts as a digital service point where Turkish Presidency can share data related to its services and tools related to career, remote education, talent acquisition. Students, new graduates and public employees can access job and internship opportunities in the public and private sectors, certified training …

The people of the Turkish crypto ecosystem are very eager to apply the age-old words of wisdom, “The bear market is an opportunity to build,” to make İstanbul -the business hub of Turkey- home to the global hype surrounding Ethereum. Turkey is one of the most active countries in crypto and blockchain, and its interest extends beyond market movements. Along with a considerable base of crypto investors, the local community consists of university clubs, Web3 startups, blockchain developers and academics. The country has hosted significant events like ETHIstanbul, Blockchain Economy Istanbul and Istanbul Blockchain Week and aims to achieve more. …