The USDT stablecoin issuer Tether has announced signing a partnership agreement with think tank BTguru to evaluate crypto initiatives in Turkey.

Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer by market capitalization, is deepening its presence in Turkey through a new collaboration, which aims to explore various tokenization use cases among Turkish financial lenders.

In a blog announcement on Tuesday, Tether said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with crypto consultancy firm BTguru to “evaluate the development of comprehensive programs […] and leverage BTguru’s connections to facilitate discussions with financial institutions in Türkiye.”

The stablecoin issuer appears to be focusing on asset tokenization, saying that both parties “will explore real-world asset tokenization use cases for banks […].”

It remains unclear if Tether has already initiated discussions with Turkish banks regarding real-world asset tokenization (RWA) initiatives. RWA tokenization adoption could potentially allocate trillions of U.S. dollars, with analysts at the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company estimating that the sector’s market capitalization could reach approximately $2 trillion by 2030 under a base scenario.

Tether’s partnership coincides with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signing a new bill into law that regulates the crypto industry and outlines penalties for non-compliance. As crypto.news reported earlier, the Turkish parliament passed a crypto bill regulating crypto use, with fines ranging from $7,500 to $182,600 and prison terms of three to five years for violations.

Under the new legislation, crypto exchanges seeking to operate legally in Turkey must be licensed by the Capital Markets Board, the country’s financial regulatory and supervisory agency. Unauthorized crypto platforms offering trading services could face prison sentences of three to five years.

Additionally, crypto providers must implement and report measures such as seizures and other legal enforcement actions. Amid the approval of the bill, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which had previously placed Turkey on its “grey list” for failing to supervise sectors vulnerable to money laundering, has excluded the country from the list.