Tokenisation promises retail investors a slice of a fund, a flat, a gold bar or a painting in small units that move on a distributed ledger at any hour. Türkiye has moved twice on the legal side. Law No. 7518 (Official Gazette 2 July 2024) gave the Capital Markets Board (SPK) power to let capital markets instruments be issued as crypto assets, and a Ministry of Treasury and Finance communiqué published on 29 July 2026 set rules for a “digital precious metal” on Borsa İstanbul. As of October 2026, however, a Turkish retail investor still reaches funds, real estate and gold through established wrappers: fund units, real estate certificates, crowdfunding and gold funds. Below: which regime applies to each asset and what to check.
The real question: what right does the token give?
What matters is the right the token represents, against whom, and which law governs it. We set out that characterisation test in our RWA tokenisation article and analysed the gold instrument in our digital precious metals briefing; here we focus on retail access.
Since Law No. 7518, Law No. 6362 defines a crypto asset (Art. 3(1)(bb)) as an intangible asset created and stored electronically using distributed ledger or similar technology, distributed over digital networks, that “can represent value or rights”. Capital markets instruments (Art. 3(1)(ş)) are securities, derivatives and other instruments, including investment contracts, that SPK designates. The categories overlap: SPK regulates crypto assets “that provide rights specific to capital markets instruments” (Art. 35/B(6)), and the Law does not apply to other crypto assets unless they trade on platforms under Article 35/C(2) (Art. 35/B(8)).
Misclassification is a criminal risk: offering capital markets instruments to the public without an approved prospectus carries two to five years’ imprisonment and a judicial fine of 5,000 to 10,000 days (Art. 109(1)); acting as an unlicensed crypto-asset service provider carries three to five years and the same fine (Art. 109/A).
Tokenised funds: TEFAS today, Article 13 tomorrow
Under Article 52(1) of Law No. 6362, an investment fund is an asset pool without legal personality, set up by a portfolio management company under fund rules, holding a portfolio for investors on fiduciary ownership principles against participation shares. Article 54 lets SPK regulate the issuance and sale of those shares, which it does in Communiqué III-52.1.
A participation share is a capital markets instrument “tracked in book-entry form” (Art. 3(1)(l)). Shares must be offered to the public, placed privately or sold to qualified investors (Art. 11(1)); hedge umbrella funds are for qualified investors only (Art. 6(1)(d)). Article 15(7) lets SPK route trading through a central fund distribution platform: TEFAS. SPK’s launch announcement said trading would start on 9 January 2015, Takasbank would operate the platform and units would be held at MKK in the investor’s name.
Retail investors already have broad access to funds, but not as tokens. A ledger-native fund unit needs SPK principles under Article 13(1), which Law No. 7518 amended: SPK may let capital markets instruments be issued as crypto assets and recorded with a crypto-asset service provider instead of the Central Registry Agency (MKK), with those ledger records governing the rights, their effect against third parties and their transfer. Communiqué III-35/B.2 (Art. 16(3)) still speaks of this conditionally (“if” SPK makes such a determination), and we have not found one in SPK’s legislation database as of 8 October 2026. In our view, a fintech issuing its own tokens against fund units it holds would be creating a new instrument, not distributing the fund.
Fractional real estate: a token is not a title deed
Turkish law already knows fractional ownership: under Article 688 of the Civil Code (TMK), co-owners hold an undivided thing in defined shares, and each share can be transferred, pledged or attached. But ownership of immovable property is acquired “by registration” (Art. 705), and contracts transferring it must be in official form (Art. 706). A token changing hands therefore does not move title; at most it evidences a contractual claim or an interest in a vehicle that holds the property.
Three regulated routes reach retail investors today:
- Real estate certificates (SPK Communiqué VII-128.2). Capital markets instruments representing specific units, or a unit of area, of a project to be built or under construction (Art. 3(1)(l)). They can be offered to the public (Art. 4(4)), require an application for exchange trading alongside the SPK application (Art. 4(5)) and are recorded at MKK (Art. 19(1)).
- Real estate investment funds (Communiqué III-52.3). Units may be sold only to qualified investors (Art. 13(1)). Under Article 52(5) of Law No. 6362, real estate in a fund’s portfolio is registered in the land registry in the fund’s name.
- Crowdfunding (Law No. 6362 Arts. 3(1)(z), 4(1) and 35/A; Communiqué III-35/A.2). Raising money from the public through an SPK-licensed platform without a prospectus. In equity crowdfunding the money goes to a joint-stock company against new shares (Art. 16(1)). For 2026, as revalued by SPK under Article 32, non-qualified individuals may invest up to 500,000 lira a year, or 10% of declared annual net income up to 2,000,000 lira (Arts. 15(1) and 18(1)), and 200,000 lira per project in debt-based campaigns (Art. 18(2)). See our crowdfunding page.
Gold and art
Gold. Gold is reachable through investment funds; where a fund invests at least 80% of its value in gold, gold itself may be used to buy and sell units with SPK approval (III-52.1 Art. 15(1)). The digital precious metal is a closed loop: metal held one-to-one at the Mint or Borsa İstanbul, converted by a central clearing institution, transferable between exchange members on a DLT-based system, and expressly neither a capital markets instrument nor a platform-traded crypto asset. Conversion and trading need the Ministry’s favourable opinion, and Borsa İstanbul sets the procedures (Communiqué No. 2026/1, adding Art. 6(2)-(3) to Communiqué No. 2023/1). Because the text speaks of transfers between exchange members, retail access depends on those exchange rules. A gold-referenced token on a crypto platform stays in the crypto-asset regime and raises the reserve and redemption questions covered in our tokenised money article.
Art. No dedicated Turkish route exists. Our analysis: a token paying a share of the proceeds of an art pool managed for investors looks like a capital markets instrument or a collective investment scheme, and only SPK-authorised portfolio management companies may set up investment funds (Arts. 52(1) and 55(1)). A token that merely represents a fraction of one work, with no promise of return, is more likely a plain crypto asset, reached by Law No. 6362 only if it trades on a licensed platform (Art. 35/B(8)).
Which regime applies today
| Asset type | Turkish route today (October 2026) | Regulator | Retail access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Investment fund units | Book-entry units at MKK, distributed through TEFAS; DLT issuance only if SPK sets principles under Art. 13 | SPK | Yes for publicly offered funds; hedge funds and real estate funds for qualified investors only |
| Real estate fractions | Real estate certificates, real estate fund units or crowdfunding; title moves only through the land registry | SPK; land registry for title | Certificates: public offering possible. Real estate funds: qualified only. Crowdfunding: within annual limits |
| Gold | Gold funds; digital precious metal on Borsa İstanbul; gold-referenced tokens under the crypto regime | SPK; Ministry of Treasury and Finance and Borsa İstanbul for digital precious metal | Funds: yes. Digital precious metal: depends on exchange rules. Tokens: through licensed platforms |
| Art | No dedicated route; characterisation decides | SPK if capital-markets-like or platform-traded | No specific retail product |
Still unclear: the Law does not define “rights specific to capital markets instruments”, Article 13 has no implementing principles that we have found, and retail access to digital precious metals awaits exchange rules. Marketing is limited: licensed crypto-asset service providers may not promise absolute returns or guarantees against loss, name price targets or run promotions that promise returns or steer customers into particular crypto assets (III-35/B.1 Arts. 30(2), 30(4)(f) and 30(5)(d)).
EU rules for Turkish firms serving EU investors
MiCA (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114) does not apply to crypto-assets that qualify as financial instruments (Art. 2(4)(a)), and units in collective investment undertakings are financial instruments under MiFID II (Annex I, Section C(3)). A tokenised fund unit offered to EU investors therefore falls under EU financial markets law, not MiCA. Unique, non-fungible tokens are outside MiCA (Art. 2(3)), but Recital 11 states that “fractional parts of a unique and non-fungible crypto-asset should not be considered unique and non-fungible”, so fractional art tokens do not escape on that ground.
The DLT Pilot Regime (Regulation (EU) 2022/858), applicable since 23 March 2023, lets authorised DLT market infrastructures trade and settle tokenised financial instruments with targeted exemptions. It is capped: shares of issuers capitalised below EUR 500 million, bonds with an issue size below EUR 1 billion and certain UCITS units with assets below EUR 500 million, with an aggregate cap of EUR 6 billion per DLT market infrastructure (Art. 3). A competent authority may let natural persons trade on a DLT MTF on their own account if they meet conditions including good repute, competence and DLT knowledge (Art. 4(2)).
Where to start
- Write down what right the token gives and against whom; that answer picks the regime.
- If it resembles a fund unit, share or debt claim, plan for SPK approval and a prospectus or a crowdfunding platform, not a token sale.
- For real estate, decide which vehicle holds title; never promise title via a token.
- For gold, choose between a fund, the Borsa İstanbul lane and the crypto-asset regime.
- Check marketing against III-35/B.1 Art. 30 and, for EU users, MiCA Art. 2(4). Our fintech law hub tracks SPK’s Article 13 work.
Can a Turkish retail investor buy tokenised fund units today?
Not as tokens, as of October 2026. Fund units are book-entry instruments recorded at MKK and sold through TEFAS; Law No. 6362 Article 13 lets SPK allow crypto-asset issuance, but we have not found implementing principles.
Does buying a real estate token make me a co-owner in the land registry?
No. Under Civil Code Articles 705 and 706, immovable ownership is acquired by registration and transfer contracts require official form. A token can at most evidence a claim or an interest in a vehicle.
Is a gold token on a crypto platform the same as the new digital precious metal?
No. The digital precious metal is converted by a central clearing institution, moves between Borsa İstanbul members and is expressly not a platform-traded crypto asset. A gold token on a crypto platform remains in the crypto-asset regime.
Sources. Capital Markets Law No. 6362 (Official Gazette 30.12.2012, No. 28513), Arts. 3(1)(bb), (ş) and (z), 4(1), 13(1), 35/A, 35/B(6) and (8), 52-55, 109 and 109/A, as amended by Law No. 7518 (Official Gazette 2.7.2024, No. 32590); SPK Communiqué III-52.1 on investment funds (Official Gazette 9.7.2013, No. 28702), Arts. 3(1)(l), 6(1)(d), 11(1) and 15; Communiqué III-52.3 on real estate investment funds (Official Gazette 3.1.2014, No. 28871), Art. 13(1); Communiqué VII-128.2 on real estate certificates (Official Gazette 5.7.2013, No. 28698), Arts. 3, 4 and 19; Crowdfunding Communiqué III-35/A.2 (Official Gazette 27.10.2021, No. 31641), Arts. 15, 16, 18 and 32, with 2026 amounts in SPK Bulletin 2025/68 (31.12.2025); Communiqué III-35/B.1, Art. 30, and Communiqué III-35/B.2, Art. 16 (Official Gazette 13.3.2025, No. 32840); consolidated SPK texts at mevzuat.spk.gov.tr; SPK announcement on TEFAS; Turkish Civil Code No. 4721, Arts. 688, 705 and 706; Ministry of Treasury and Finance Communiqué No. 2026/1 (Official Gazette 29.7.2026, No. 33324) amending Communiqué No. 2023/1 on precious metal standards and refineries (Official Gazette 23.2.2023, No. 32113); Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 (MiCA) (OJ L 150, 9.6.2023), Art. 2(3)-(4) and Recital 11; Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID II), Annex I, Section C; Regulation (EU) 2022/858 (DLT Pilot Regime) (OJ L 151, 2.6.2022), Arts. 3, 4 and 19.
This article is general information and not legal advice; a specific situation should be assessed with counsel.
