Turkey's Capital Markets Board monitors digital assets and backs crowd‑funding for startups

At the Istanbul Real Estate and Ideas Summit 2026, Uğur Yaylaönü, deputy chairman of Turkey’s Capital Markets Board (SPK), explained that tokenisation allows real‑world assets to be divided into millions of digital tokens that can be bought and sold on 24/7 platforms. He said the SPK is tracking digital assets cautiously, applying the same trust mechanisms as in traditional markets.

Yaylaönü highlighted crowd‑funding platforms, describing them as micro‑exchanges. Turkey now has 18 such platforms; in the past four years they have funded 178 companies with investments ranging from $200‑300 k up to $3 million, involving about 50 000 individual investors. He also recommended convertible bonds as a way for early‑stage companies to raise capital while offering investors a lower‑interest loan that can convert to equity.

KOSGEB president Ahmet Serdar İbrahimcioğlu noted that Turkey hosts roughly 3.94 million enterprises, of which about 1.79 million keep formal accounts and only 6 086 are classified as large firms. The remaining 99.8 % are SMEs, which the board sees as the backbone of the national economy and likens to a broad startup ecosystem.