Potential sharia forms for crowdfunding platforms in Saudi Arabia : juristic study

الملخص EN

This paper seeks to explore some possible applications for Sharia-compliant crowd fundraising plat forms in Saudi Arabia.

crowdfunding platforms, is a new technology medium of financing that has been expanding and spreading internationally since 2003.

however, the financially oriented techno logical concept is relatively new in saudi market.

in Saudi Arabia, crowd fundraising is regulated by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and the capital market authority.

despite the relevance of the fi nancial technology, only four crowdfunding platforms, namely, forus, scopeer, Manafa and Derayah have been licensed to operate within the Kingdom.

More so, within the so-called experimental regula tory environment "Sandbox," SAMA has produced a draft of "rules for practicing crowd fundraising activities.

this is a temporary approval for the aim of trying and performing such collective financing operations in the market, but only in a restricted way with specific monitoring to guarantee that the financial system is not harmed while the official license and regulations are being prepared.

as a result, the capital market authority has only issued limited licenses to a few of these sites.

therefore, this study will begin by identifying the pillars and characteristics of crowd fundraising in the Saudi Islamic market, before examining various existing and potential Sharia-compliant forms.

due to the novelty of crowdfunding legislation and their recent appearances in Saudi Arabia, their own peculiarities present legal difficulties and challenges that have yet to be resolved.