The Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye has completed its evaluation of applications to join the Digital Turkish Lira Project ecosystem. According to the official announcement dated August 3, 2026, 23 projects advanced to the third stage from an initial pool of 85 applications. Development work and sandbox tests will be conducted during this stage. The announcement does not mean that a digital Turkish lira has been launched; it marks progress in selecting research and development projects within the central bank’s program.
How did the application process work?
The first stage of the participation call ran from September 4 to October 15, 2025. The central bank said 16 banks and 25 payment and electronic money institutions submitted 85 projects in total. Financial technology companies collaborating with the applicant institutions were also able to take part. After the initial assessment, 51 projects that met the first-stage criteria were allowed to proceed. The figures show that the applications were screened against the conditions of the call before advancing.
Second-stage applications were received between November 13 and December 12, 2025. Following an assessment of submitted documents and presentations, the central bank selected 23 projects belonging to 12 banks and six payment or electronic money institutions for the third stage. Six additional projects were placed on hold. The bank said those projects could be included in the third stage at a later date, but it did not present their inclusion as a confirmed outcome.
Which areas do the projects cover?
The projects advancing to the third stage are associated with five technology categories. The official release lists 15 projects related to tokenization, 17 to programmable payments, seven to self-sovereign identity, 15 to interoperability with existing systems and one to machine-to-machine payments. These figures add up to more than 23 because the central bank explicitly noted that one project may fall under several categories.
Programmable payments broadly examine transaction scenarios that can operate under predefined conditions, while interoperability considers how a new system may work with existing payment infrastructure. The announcement did not disclose the selected projects’ detailed designs or commercial release schedules. It therefore provides no basis for claiming that any specific solution will become available to the public on a particular date.
What was the participation call designed to do?
The original call published in September 2025 allowed banks, payment institutions and electronic money institutions to propose innovative scenarios together with technology solution providers. Its stated purpose was to enrich the ongoing second phase of the Digital Turkish Lira Project and enable joint work in a controlled experimentation environment. The latest release completes the evaluation portion of that call and identifies the projects that may now move into development and testing.
The Digital Turkish Lira Project remains a research and development initiative. Reaching the third stage means that the selected teams can develop their proposals and test them in the designated environment. It does not establish that every project will become a permanent service, that regulatory approval has been granted or that a retail digital currency is ready for general use. Keeping those distinctions clear is essential because the official statement is limited to application results.
The central bank said it intends to continue public-private cooperation in financial technologies and the digital Turkish lira. The next concrete information should come from official updates on development and sandbox testing during the third stage. For now, the verified result is narrow but significant: 23 of 85 submitted projects have moved forward for development and testing, while six other projects remain on hold for possible later consideration.
