Treasury denies gold tracking claims: Focus is on anti-counterfeiting

Turkey’s Treasury and Finance Ministry has rejected claims that the Precious Metals Tracking System aims to monitor citizens’ gold assets, stating that the system is designed solely to combat counterfeiting during the production process.

Response to misleading reports

The ministry said reports suggesting that the system targets privately held gold or renders undocumented gold invalid are false and intended to mislead the public.

Security at the production stage

With the implementation of the system, precious metals produced by refineries in weights of one gram or more will be standardized and packaged with security features, ensuring access to verified and trustworthy gold.

Production details such as manufacturer, production date and location, weight, purity and serial numbers are recorded through special labels provided by the Turkish Mint.

No tracking of ownership

The ministry emphasized that the system only tracks the production phase and does not record who buys or sells the gold, dismissing claims of asset monitoring as misleading.

Citizens’ rights remain protected

Authorities stressed that citizens can freely sell or use their gold holdings and that existing regulations do not prevent gold from being exchanged or used in transactions.

The requirement for transactions exceeding 30,000 Turkish lira to be conducted through financial institutions applies to all commodities and is not exclusive to gold.