Our Team

Menacrypto is a new generation consulting company founded by the joint venture of a team with more than 15 years of experience in cryptoassets, banking, payment services and electronic money and competent in financial technology. Menacrypto has managed to bring together all the experts (including information systems auditors, blockchain software developers, token economics experts, lawyers, tax experts, certified public accountants, intellectual property rights experts) needed by a cryptoasset service provider.

Mehmet holds a Ph.D in Law and an LLM degree in Banking and Finance Law. As an expert on cryptoassets, Banking, Finance, Electronic Money and Payment Services, he has undertaken important roles in the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, including heading its Legal Department, and has worked with IFSB, IMF, World Bank and Islamic Development Bank. Mehmet is the author of the book “Electronic Money from the Legal Perspective'', a number of articles and has made numerous national and international presentations. Mehmet provides consultancy to national and international cryptoasset service providers in terms of regulatory compliance as well as corporate structure, policies, license application and other procedures.

Gurcan is a P.h.D holder in Financial Economics, worked as a Director for Ernst & Young’s Advisory department and the supervision group of the Banking Regulation Authority of Turkey. He worked for the Basel Committee to design within the framework new global financial architecture and attended numerous meetings of the Global Public Policy Committee, IASB and FSB to enhance the contribution of corporate governance to financial stability. His main focus for the last five years is on fintech regulation, especially blockchain. Nowadays, he manages various fintech-legal projects around the MENA region.

Mr. Aktekin is a highly experienced consultant on licensing and regulatory compliance providing consultancy to cryptoasset service providers, banks, non-bank financial institutions, payment and electronic money institutions. He brings together 11 years of experience of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA) where he worked as an expert, chief expert and coordinator. His tasks at the BRSA included monitoring, analysis and evaluation of compliance of activities, capital adequacy, financial and management structures, internal systems of the banks, financial leasing companies, factoring companies, financing companies, payment and electronic money institutions, independent audit companies and asset management companies. He also took an active part in evaluation and finalization of license and other permit applications, drafting secondary regulations and adaptation procedures of relevant institutions to the newly enacted legislation.

Arif ESEN has over 10 years of experience in banking and finance. He managed audits of private equity banks and later worked as a finance manager. He was actively involved in the setup of fintech projects and in applications to domestic and international regulators. He has been involved in numerous projects abroad, including the UK, Saudi Arabia, Lithuania, Estonia and Dubai. Arif ESEN has a second bachelor's degree in law department and provides Menacrypto with research and development support and legal support on NFT, Metaverse, fintech international application and regulations.

Mr. M. Şefik Yurtçiçek is an expert on audit and compliance (particularly AML-CTF), financial due diligence and valuation of FinTechs and cryptoasset service providers, bringing together 10 years of experience working as auditor, foreign service officer and project director in national and international institutions. He is currently focusing on cryptocurrency intelligence and blockchain analytics of virtual asset service providers (VASPs). He contributes to various projects involving the assessing and consulting businesses in terms of licensing, regulatory compliance and organizational structure. He is fluent in Arabic, German and Persian in addition to Turkish and English.

Sedat YILMAZ advises clients on a wide array of regulatory, policy, compliance, or enforcement matters concerning derivatives, securities, blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital assets. Mr. Yılmaz has over 15 years of legal and policy experience advising on financial institutions and markets, as well as years of government experience working with Turkish Coast Guard and Navy. He regularly advises trading platforms, cryptocurrency exchanges, fintechs, and other clients on a variety of compliance, regulatory, and transactional matters, and interfaces with the staff of the regulatory bodies on behalf of clients. His work involves complex compliance and markets issues, including advising clients with respect to compliance with MENA region regulations. Mr. Yılmaz is licensed to practice law in the District of Ankara.