The price of bitcoin (BTC-USD) descended from record highs on Friday following a decision by Turkey's central bank to ban cryptocurrencies for payments.
The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) said the use of cryptocurrencies and other crypto assets based on distributed ledger technology would be prohibited as a payment, whether directly or indirectly.
The ban will come into force from 30 April this year.
"Payment service providers will not be able to develop business models in a way that crypto assets are used directly or indirectly in the provision of payment services and electronic money issuance, and will not be able to provide any services related to such business models," CBRT said in a statement.
The CBRT said the ban was motivated by a lack of "central authority regulation" and "supervision mechanisms" for cryptocurrencies and other similar digital assets.
It said that, among other risks, cryptocurrencies "may cause non-recoverable losses for the parties to the transactions" due to the lack of regulation.
A statement from the bank added that payments could "include elements that may undermine the confidence in methods and instruments used currently in payments."
Bitcoin was down over 3% to $61,379 (£44,670) in morning trade in London.
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