Coinzo

What did it do?

Coinzo was a cryptocurrency trading platform founded in İzmir, Turkey, in 2018 and operating under Coinzo Teknoloji AŞ. The platform, which developed its software in-house, stood out for identity verification via e-Devlet (Turkey's e-government portal), low commissions and API services.

Why did it shut down?

On 11 October 2021 Coinzo announced that it was ending its service by halting trading. The company did not explain the reason for the closure. The decision came at a time when, after the collapse of Thodex and Vebitcoin in April that year, payments with crypto assets had been banned and the sector had landed on the regulatory agenda. The sources do not explicitly draw this connection, so it should be read as an interpretation. Coinzo made an orderly exit, giving its users a six-month window to withdraw their funds.

The story

Coinzo was a cryptocurrency trading platform founded in İzmir in 2018 and operating under Coinzo Teknoloji AŞ. According to a 2020 profile by egirişim, its software had been developed entirely in-house. Its standout features included account verification through e-Devlet integration without requiring an ID photo, commissions below the market average, a revenue-sharing referral system and API services. At the time the platform was listed among the top 100 bitcoin exchanges on CoinMarketCap.

When interest in crypto peaked in 2021, Coinzo was cited as one of the five most-used crypto exchanges in Turkey. According to Habertürk, daily trading volume on the platform exceeded 500 million lira.

At 9 am on 11 October 2021 Coinzo halted trading and published an announcement to its users. The company said it had decided to end the digital asset services it had provided since 2018. Users were given six months to withdraw their Turkish lira and crypto balances; features other than trading remained available during that period. The statement said balances were safe and the relevant authorities had been informed. The company stressed that the process would be managed "carefully so that no user is harmed" and added that it would return in future with new projects in crypto and blockchain.

Coinzo never explained the reason for the closure. The decision came at a time when, after the collapse of Thodex and Vebitcoin in April that year, payments with crypto assets had been banned and the sector had landed on the regulatory agenda. Unlike Thodex, Coinzo was one of the platforms that closed while giving its users an orderly exit process; this showed that how a closure is managed matters as much as the closure itself.

Lessons for founders

• If you have decided to close, offer your users a clear timetable and a way out; your reputation lives on after you close.
• In a sector where regulation is changing fast, write the cost of compliance into your business plan from the start.
• Volume alone is not a sign of sustainability; track your revenue and cost structure separately.

Sources

1. İzmir-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinzo closes (Capital, 2021-10-11)
2. İzmir crypto exchange closes (Habertürk, 2021-10-11)
3. Coinzo, the Turkish crypto platform offering bitcoin trading (egirişim, 2020-06-12)
4. Turkish crypto exchange ends its operations (ShiftDelete.Net, 2021-10-11)

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