# Bitay (2018 – 2025)

- URL: https://girisimcikafasi.com/en/startup-graveyard/bitay/
- Sector: Crypto and blockchain
- Country: Turkey
- Total funding: unknown
- Cause of closure: Ran out of cash

## What did it do?

Bitay was a Turkish cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2018 as an R&D project at Yıldız Technical University's Teknopark in Istanbul. The platform, which built its own infrastructure, offered products such as identity verification via e-Devlet (Turkey's e-government portal), a token called BTY, the BitayPay payment system and the Bitay Visa card.

## Why did it shut down?

According to a Sözcü report from September 2024, withdrawal requests some users made in April and May went unresolved for months. In July the company said infrastructure work was under way and that payments would be made after August, but by the end of September the payments had still not been made. According to experts quoted in the report, when the company failed to get the returns it expected from its investments, it could not meet a wave of withdrawal requests and fell into a liquidity crisis. In the list updated in December 2025 by the SPK, Turkey's Capital Markets Board, Bitay Teknoloji appeared among the firms in liquidation. The sources contain no definitive information on what became of the claims of users who could not withdraw.

## The story

Bitay was a Turkish cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2018 as an R&D project at Yıldız Technical University's Teknopark. According to Fintech Dünyası, the platform had built its infrastructure itself without using third-party software and said it was the first Turkish exchange to verify customer identity through e-Devlet, Turkey's e-government portal. In June 2021 the company announced that it had received approval to operate from the US and the European Union. According to statements at the time by its executive Niyazi Yılmaz, the exchange had more than 670,000 identity-verified users and an average of 50,000 active traders a day. The same year the company put its own token, BTY, on sale and announced products such as the BitayPay payment system and the Bitay Visa card.

In 2024, however, user complaints came to the fore. According to a Sözcü report from September 2024, withdrawal requests some users made in April and May went unresolved for months. In July the company said infrastructure work was under way, that it would be finished in August and that payments would follow; but by the end of September the payments had still not been made. According to experts quoted in the report, when the company failed to get the returns it expected from its investments, it was unable to meet a wave of withdrawal requests and fell into a liquidity crisis. The same experts also stressed that a significant share of users had been drawn to the platform with small welcome bonuses. Users who could not withdraw compared their experience to the Thodex case of 2021.

According to internet archive records, Bitay Teknoloji did not appear on the SPK's July 2025 list of crypto asset service providers in liquidation; in the list updated in December 2025, however, it did. The company was still on this list as of September 2026. The sources contain no definitive information on what became of the claims of users who could not withdraw.

Bitay became one example of how quickly a venture that gave the appearance of a major exchange, with announcements of international approval and its own token, can unravel when it fails to protect user assets.

## Lessons

- If you do not keep user assets separate and withdrawable at any moment, the first wave of mass withdrawals will put you in trouble.
- Announcements of international licences build trust, but real trust is built by paying withdrawal requests on time.
- Gathering users with a welcome bonus is easy; protecting those users is the real job.

## Sources

- [What is Bitay, and is it reliable? Who owns Bitay, and what is its commission?](https://www.fintechdunyasi.com/bitay-nedir-guvenilir-mi-bitay-kimin-komisyon-yuzde-kac/7432/)
- [Turkish crypto exchange Bitay wins EU approval after US approval](https://www.fintechdunyasi.com/turk-kripto-borsasi-bitaya-abdden-sonra-abden-de-onay-geldi/2149/)
- [Crypto frenzy and Bitay: no one hears the cries of hundreds of victims!](https://www.sozcu.com.tr/kripto-cilginligi-ve-bitay-yuzlerce-magdurun-cigligini-duyan-yok-p86650)
- [List of firms in liquidation (12 December 2025, archive capture)](http://web.archive.org/web/20251218193638/https://spk.gov.tr/kurumlar/kripto-varlik-hizmet-saglayicilar/tasfiye-surecinde-olanlar-listesi)
- [List of firms in liquidation](https://spk.gov.tr/kurumlar/kripto-varlik-hizmet-saglayicilar/tasfiye-surecinde-olanlar-listesi)