The Authorities in Turkey have announced that bitcoin is not in accordance with the Islamic religion and has warned their citizens against buying the most powerful crypto currency. The Directorate of Religious Affairs said “Cryptocurrency is widely used for nefarious and illegal activities, and is not sufficiently regulated, making it far more volatile than other currencies.” “Buying and selling virtual currencies is not compatible with religion at this time because of the fact that their valuation is open to speculation, they can be easily used in illegal activities like money laundering and they are not under the state’s audit and surveillance,” According to the Turkish media, the religious body took a decision on the digital currency at a meeting last week. The citizens of Turkey still invested in bitcoin, even with these warnings from the government. This has also lead criminals to capitalize on the rise in the currencies value with one wealthy man been captured and was forced to hand over his 450 bitcoins, worth around $3.34 million, at the time.As bitcoin gets even more popular and keeps rising the president of Turkey’s Central Bank said “that research is taking place into cryptocurrencies more generally”. Murat Cetinkaya said “such digital currencies could contribute to financial stability,” according to Bitcoin.com. I know a lot of people will think that religion should play no part of your own finances. Is Turkey trying to protect the religious beliefs of their citizens or control them?.