FTX Turkey Crypto Exchange Review: What Happened and Why It Failed

FTX Turkey was never just another crypto exchange. For many Turks, it was a lifeline. With inflation hitting 85% in 2022, people saw Bitcoin and Ethereum not as speculative bets, but as a way to protect their savings from the lira’s freefall. FTX Turkey promised fast TRY deposits, low fees, and a Turkish-language interface. It felt safe. It felt local. And then, in one week, it vanished - along with hundreds of millions of dollars in user funds.

How FTX Turkey Appeared to Be the Answer

In early 2022, FTX Turkey (ftxtr.com) was the fastest-growing crypto platform in the country. It didn’t just offer Bitcoin and Ethereum - it gave users access to leveraged tokens, tokenized stocks, and futures contracts with up to 3x leverage. For experienced traders, that was powerful. For everyday people trying to save money, it was dangerously tempting.

Unlike local exchanges like Paribu or Binance Turkey, FTX Turkey didn’t charge high fees. Makers paid just 0.05%, takers 0.1%. TRY deposits started at 100 lira - about $5 at the time. Withdrawals were quick. The app was in Turkish. Customer support answered in Turkish. It felt like it was built for you.

The platform used the same security setup as FTX Global: SSL encryption, two-factor authentication, and cold storage for 95% of assets. It even gave users discounts on trading fees if they held FTT tokens. Hold 25 FTT? Get 5% off. Hold 10,000? Get 60% off. It seemed like a smart reward system.

At its peak, FTX Turkey had over 500,000 registered users. That’s more than the population of many European cities. Most weren’t professional traders. They were teachers, mechanics, shop owners - people who’d watched their savings shrink month after month. They put their money in FTX Turkey because it looked trustworthy. And it looked like the only option.

The Hidden Flaw: No Real Regulation

Here’s the thing no one told you: FTX Turkey wasn’t licensed by Turkey’s Capital Markets Board (SPK). Not even close.

While Binance Turkey partnered with a local entity (Bgator) and Thodex had obtained registration before its 2021 collapse, FTX Turkey operated under FTX’s Bahamas license. That meant it answered to regulators in the Caribbean - not Ankara. Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) later confirmed FTX Turkey violated Article 7 of Turkey’s Anti-Money Laundering Law by operating without required registration.

This wasn’t a minor oversight. It was a legal blind spot that put every user at risk. If something went wrong, there was no Turkish authority to turn to. No consumer protection. No insurance fund. No legal recourse.

Even worse, FTX Turkey’s parent company, FTX Global, was already collapsing under the weight of misused customer funds. Internal documents later revealed that over $8 billion in customer money had been funneled into Alameda Research, Sam Bankman-Fried’s trading firm. FTX Turkey’s users weren’t just trading - they were lending their money to a company that was using it to gamble on risky bets.

The Collapse: What Actually Happened

On November 11, 2022, FTX Global filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware. Within hours, FTX Turkey shut down. The website went dark. The app stopped working. Withdrawals froze.

Users didn’t get a warning. No email. No notice. One day, you could trade. The next, your account was a ghost.

MASAK’s investigation found that 83% of FTX Turkey users had balances under 5,000 TRY - roughly $250. These weren’t wealthy investors. These were people who’d saved for years. One Reddit user wrote: “I lost 187,000 TRY. That was my mother’s surgery fund.”

The platform’s own structure made the damage worse. Over 78% of Turkish users held leveraged tokens - complex products even seasoned traders struggle with. When the market dropped, these positions collapsed. Many lost everything overnight.

And then came the final insult: FTX’s bankruptcy team asked users to submit bank account details to receive refunds. Sixty-eight percent of people who did - including those who sent official documents, screenshots, and ID copies - never got a cent back.

How FTX Turkey Compared to Other Turkish Exchanges

Comparison of Turkish Crypto Exchanges (Pre-Collapse, 2022)

Feature	FTX Turkey	Binance Turkey	Paribu
TRY Deposit Minimum	100 TRY	100 TRY	50 TRY
Trading Fees (Maker/Taker)	0.05%-0.07% / 0.1%-0.2%	0.1% (standard)	0.25%-0.4%
Supported Cryptocurrencies	120+	200+	60+
Leveraged Products	Yes (up to 3x)	Yes (limited)	No
SPK Registration	No	Yes (via Bgator)	Yes
Customer Support in Turkish	Yes	Yes	Yes

FTX Turkey won on price and product depth. But it lost on safety. Binance Turkey had higher fees but was legally registered. Paribu had fewer coins but was fully compliant. FTX Turkey gave you more - and took it all away.

What Users Learned Too Late

After the collapse, Turkish crypto communities started sharing hard-won lessons:

• Never keep more than 3 days’ worth of trading capital on an exchange. If you’re not actively trading, move your crypto to a private wallet.
• Check SPK’s official registry - not the exchange’s website. FTX Turkey claimed to be compliant. SPK’s site said otherwise.
• Avoid leveraged tokens if you don’t understand how they work. These aren’t investments. They’re bets with built-in expiration dates.
• Ask: Who’s backing this exchange? Is it a local company with real oversight - or a foreign shell?

One Reddit user, u/CryptoSavas, summed it up: “I thought FTX was too big to fail. Turns out, big doesn’t mean safe. It just means more people lose when it falls.”

The Aftermath: Turkey’s Crypto Landscape Today

FTX Turkey is gone. The website is offline. The domain is for sale. The company is bankrupt.

As of September 2023, over 18,000 Turkish users filed claims in the U.S. bankruptcy case. The average claim was $2,147. Most won’t get more than pennies on the dollar.

Turkey’s government responded with new rules. In June 2023, SPK mandated that all crypto exchanges must hold 100% reserve backing. No more lending customer funds. No more risky investments. No more FTX-style chaos.

The Central Bank is now testing a national digital lira - a state-backed digital currency meant to replace the need for crypto as a savings tool. Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek called it “a direct response to the trust crisis caused by FTX.”

A 2023 survey by Istanbul University found only 28% of former FTX users would trust a centralized exchange again. Many switched to peer-to-peer platforms like LocalBitcoins or used decentralized exchanges like Uniswap - where you hold your own keys.

Is FTX Turkey Still Active? Can You Get Your Money Back?

No. FTX Turkey is permanently defunct. There is no revival plan. No new owner. No rebrand.

If you lost money, your only path is through the U.S. bankruptcy proceedings. You must file a claim with the FTX estate. The process is slow, complex, and requires English-language documentation. Most Turkish users didn’t survive the bureaucracy.

MASAK closed its criminal investigation in October 2023, confirming FTX Turkey operated illegally. Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted in the U.S. in November 2023 on charges of fraud and money laundering. He’s now serving a 25-year sentence.

For Turkish users, justice is a distant word. Recovery is unlikely. The real lesson isn’t about crypto. It’s about trust.

What You Should Do Now

If you’re still using a centralized exchange in Turkey:

• Verify its SPK registration on the official government website. Don’t trust the exchange’s “we’re licensed” banner.
• Use cold wallets for long-term holdings. Hardware wallets like Ledger or Trezor are worth the cost.
• Never use leverage unless you’ve studied how it works - and even then, keep it under 2x.
• Only deposit what you’re prepared to lose. If it’s your rent money, your child’s education fund, or your emergency savings - don’t put it on an exchange.

Crypto isn’t the problem. Unregulated platforms are.

FTX Turkey didn’t fail because the market crashed. It failed because it was built on lies. And now, it’s a warning - not just for Turkey, but for anyone who thinks big names are safe names.