Turkey Reveals Blockchain Infrastructure Plan in Strategy 2023 Document

The Turkish government has stated plans to setup a national blockchain framework to use distributed ledger technology (DLT) in public management. The Ministry of Industry and Technology published its vision during its Strategy 2023 presentation in Ankara on September 18.

Strategy 2023 stresses blockchain and DLT as important tasks for 2020. The media release points to a Startup Genome survey that underlines blockchain as one of the fast growing technologies, with a growth of 101.5% in worldwide early stage start up financing.

The Strategy 2023 document states that a unique open-source blockchain platform will be created in Turkey.

This endeavor will study various use cases such as academic certificates, land registration and customs to identify potential public sector applications.

The Ministry of Industry and Technology also intends to join hands with Turkish regulators to establish a regulatory sandbox for blockchain app. Strategy 2023 is the first document, with the word Bitcoin (BTC) as reference, to be published at ministry level in the country.

Turkey published an economic roadmap in July that explains a central bank-issued crypto currency, but did not specify Bitcoin or any other cryptos.

Strategy 2023 also explains 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.”

Institutions in Turkey have been adopting blockchain technology in several sectors. Last month, the Istanbul Blockchain and Innovation Center (BlockchainIST Center) was opened at Bahçeşehir University.

Bora Erdamar, BlockchainIST center’s director, said the organization 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 in September, Turkey’s Istanbul Clearing, Settlement and Custody Bank (Takasbank) unveiled a blockchain powered platform for buying and selling physical gold. Takasbank’s latest venture intends to permit users to move physical gold held at the Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange.