mr. M.E. Buit

PhD project: Towards an Appropriate Regulatory Regime for Lending-Based Crowdfunding

'Lending-based' (LB-)crowdfunding has become an important alternative financing structure to provide consumers and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with loans. Yet, it is unclear how LB-crowdfunding should be regulated. In the absence of a European harmonized regulatory framework for (LB-)crowdfunding, Member States have developed their own regulatory frameworks that differ substantially from one another. In general, regulators struggle to find a balance between the protection of consumers and SMEs and enabling further innovation of crowdfunding. This interdisciplinary research aims to examine existing rules and practices concerning the regulation of LB-crowdfunding in EU law as well as in the national systems of the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands, and provide recommendations for the development of an appropriate regulatory regime for LB-crowdfunding.