(Bloomberg) -- Owners of one of Turkey’s biggest crypto exchanges have established a securities brokerage, offering its millions of clients new options to satisfy their trading itch.

Istanbul-based BtcTurk emerged largely unscathed from a crisis half a year ago when two local cryptocurrency exchanges crumbled in the space of a few days. It now wants to parlay demand for digital assets into new areas like stocks, according to BtcTurk Chief Executive Officer Ozgur Guneri.

Turkey’s market regulator approved the establishment of Eliptik Yatirim Menkul Degerler AS, owned by crypto technology firm Liberium, a sister company of BtcTurk. 

The firm will “provide capital market access for our more than 4 million users,” Guneri said by phone on Thursday. It will offer trading in major stocks on Borsa Istanbul and Nasdaq and plans to provide access to some Turkish futures and options contracts.

“Eliptik won’t employ any sales staff nor it will provide research,” Guneri said. “We believe in self-service finance -- we won’t call anyone to market this or that idea, but will be within fingertip reach when clients want to trade.” 

Cryptocurrencies have grown in appeal for Turks as declines in the lira and spiraling inflation sap the value of their savings. Turkey’s currency is the worst performer in emerging markets this year with a loss of about 22% against the dollar. 

BtcTurk, which competes with Paribu, commanded a daily trading volume of 16.6 billion liras ($1.7 billion) over the past 24 hours, according to data provided by the website 21milyon.com. Paribu ranked second with 9.11 billion liras. 

Eliptik plans to start its services in the first quarter of 2022 once it wins another approval for an operating license.

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