Why could debt-based crowdfunding not succeed in Turkey?

Berkay Kılıç[1]

The Capital Markets Board of Turkey published a Communiqué on Crowdfunding in the Official Gazette edition 31641 on 27 October 2021. The Communiqué is to set down the principles and procedures regarding debt-based crowdfunding. Yet, no crowdfunding platforms have so far applied for listing on debt-based crowdfunding. This is because there are legal uncertainties on Communiqué. Also, the project of debt-based crowdfunding is more difficult to realize than projects of equity-based crowdfunding for crowdfunding platforms. Investment limits of debt-based crowdfunding are smaller than investment limits of equity-based crowdfunding for natural persons. More over interest rate determination method of Communiqué is not suitable for Turkey.

Debt-based crowdfunding is useful for intrapreneurship. At the same time, debt-based crowdfunding is an alternative for convertible bonds and debts securities over a foreign currency.

Changes to the Communiqué need to be made to encourage platforms for listening to debt-based crowdfunding. Debt-based crowdfunding and equity-based crowdfunding must be subject to the same conditions. The interest rate determination method should be more compatible with economic instruments. Investors should be informed about the benefits of debt-based crowdfunding. These changes are especially important for the development of entrepreneurship.

For the full text of this blog post in Turkish, please click here.

Keywords: Crowdfunding, Debt-Based Crowdfunding, Crowdfunding Platform

[1] LLM Candidate, Marmara University Institute of Social Sciences