The cryptocurrency exchange OKX TR wanted to make a donation of 10,000 to create a Memorial Forest in Izmir. The donation in question brought TEMA Foundation and OKX TR into conflict due to a misunderstanding.
OKX TR showed sensitivity to the recent forest fires in Turkey and wanted to create a Memorial Forest. The crypto exchange first announced on July 4 on social media that it would donate 10,000 saplings through the TEMA Foundation and wanted to revitalize nature with the OKX TR Memorial Forest.
A month after the aforementioned post, TEMA Foundation made a noteworthy announcement. TEMA Foundation, which shared the information on the X platform to inform the public, claimed that OKX TR had carried out the donation and the Memorial Forest project without the foundation’s approval. The foundation emphasized that it had not conducted any donation process with OKX TR and that the exchange’s posts had misled the public.
The TEMA Foundation stated that it had requested OKX TR to remove the relevant social media post, but that this request had been ignored. Finally, the TEMA Foundation gave OKX TR three business days to delete the post.
OKX TR Responded: “We Sent an Email”
The cryptocurrency exchange OKX TR responded to a post made by the TEMA Foundation on X on August 5. OKX TR stated the following:
“To TEMA Foundation and the public, The inclusion of TEMA Foundation’s name in our sharing is based on a cooperation process that we wanted to initiate with good intentions. Following the forest fires in Izmir, we contacted the TEMA Foundation via the corporate communication form on their website to arrange for our sapling donation to be made as a Memorial Forest, and received their first response on July 8, 2025. The TEMA Foundation informed us that, in accordance with the Forest Law No. 6381, it is not possible to establish a Memorial Forest in İzmir, but instead, land could be allocated in provinces such as Erzincan, Bursa, Balıkesir, or Konya as early as June 2026.”
OKX TR emphasized that, due to its priority being İzmir, it contacted Geleceğe Nefes, an official platform affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, on July 14 and learned that the Memorial Forest could be realized in İzmir through Geleceğe Nefes. OKX TR explained the situation to the TEMA Foundation and stated that they prepared a rebuttal text at the foundation’s request and sent it to the foundation via email. The cryptocurrency exchange described the TEMA Foundation’s decision to share the information on X without responding to the email as “a regrettable situation.”
TEMA Foundation did not respond to OKX TR’s latest post.
