ICRYPEX

ICRYPEX was a centralized cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2018 and headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey. Owned primarily by Gokalp Icer (70% stake) and Semsihan Karaca (30% stake), it grew into one of Turkey's larger retail crypto platforms, reporting over one million registered users across more than 80 countries and listing upwards of 270 cryptocurrency assets across 220-plus trading pairs. The exchange was notable for offering direct Turkish lira (TRY) trading pairs, allowing Turkish users to convert lira to crypto without routing through USDT.

Exchange Products and Features

ICRYPEX operated a broad suite of trading services. Spot trading covered more than 270 assets across 11 categories including DeFi tokens, gaming assets, Layer 2 projects, NFT-related tokens, Web3 infrastructure, and stablecoins. The exchange also offered USDT-margined perpetual and futures contracts with leverage up to 50x, a copy trading function allowing users to mirror other traders' strategies, and an OTC desk for institutional-sized transactions.

Additional products included a launchpad for early-stage token sales and ICO/IEO participation, a crypto basket product offering pre-packaged multi-asset index exposure, an NFT marketplace, a P2P transfer feature, and staking and liquidity farming programs. ICRYPEX also operated an educational platform called ICRYPEX Academy and published research content through its English-language blog at research.icrypex.com.

Supported fiat currencies included TRY, EUR, USD, and RUB. Payment methods spanned bank wire, credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Trading fees ranged from 0.08 to 0.20% for makers and 0.10 to 0.25% for takers, with no deposit fees and a minimum deposit of five US dollars.

ICPX Token

In 2023, ICRYPEX launched its native exchange token, ICPX, on the Avalanche C-Chain. The token was not native to Solana, though ICRYPEX listed SOL as a tradeable spot and futures asset.

The total supply of ICPX was capped at 500 million tokens, with a presale conducted in October 2023 at a 20% discount. Utility included reduced withdrawal fees for holders, listing fee payments for new projects, early access collateral for launchpad presales, NFT marketplace payments, staking rewards advertised at up to 14% APY, liquidity farming at up to approximately 7% APR, and access to advanced tiers of the ICRYPEX Academy. The token could also be used to purchase up to 1% of ICRYPEX company shares. At its all-time high in December 2024, ICPX traded at approximately two dollars and three cents. By mid-2026 the token had declined sharply amid the collapse of the platform.

Regulatory Standing Prior to 2025

Before its legal troubles, ICRYPEX held Virtual Asset Service Provider registrations in Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria, and El Salvador. It was also subject to Turkish anti-money laundering obligations under MASAK, and to oversight by Turkey's Capital Markets Board under Law No. 7518, which came into force in 2024 and created a formal licensing regime for crypto asset service providers. Security measures included two-factor authentication, cold storage for the majority of assets, 24-hour monitoring, and regular independent audits.

Criminal Investigation and Asset Seizure

ICRYPEX's operations were fundamentally disrupted by a criminal investigation that became public in late July 2025. Turkish authorities arrested Gokalp Icer, the majority owner of ICRYPEX, on multiple charges: supplying narcotic or stimulant substances and attempted murder with possible intent. The investigation originated after a victim was hospitalized in intensive care from suspected drug use.

The criminal probe expanded to encompass the exchange itself. Istanbul's chief prosecutor's office determined that the ICRYPEX platform had been used to launder money on behalf of criminal organizations, converting illicit proceeds into foreign currency or cryptocurrency and introducing them into the financial system. On July 31, 2025, a criminal peace judge ordered the seizure of Icer's and ICRYPEX's bank accounts, holdings at electronic money institutions, vehicles, real estate, and company shares.

Following the seizure, multiple users reported being unable to withdraw funds from the platform. Withdrawal requests went unprocessed with no blockchain transaction IDs provided. User-facing review platforms reflected sharply negative experiences in the aftermath.

Current Status

As of mid-2026, ICRYPEX is effectively non-operational as a result of the asset seizure and ongoing criminal proceedings against its founder. The website remains accessible but the seizure of bank accounts and institutional holdings has rendered the platform unable to process customer withdrawals in a normal capacity. The ICPX token continues to trade on secondary markets but at a fraction of its peak value.

ICRYPEX's Solana Compass listing reflects its prior role as a regulated on-ramp for Solana ecosystem participants in Turkey and Europe. SOL was among its listed spot and futures assets, though the exchange was never a Solana-native project and had no on-chain programs or deep protocol integration with the Solana network.