Is crowdfunding reliable?

Internet finance has incomparable advantages over traditional finance. It is a financial activity based on Internet service platform, including online financial management, payment and fund raising. General Internet finance can use big data analysis technology to reduce the possibility of information asymmetry, thus greatly improving the quality and efficiency of financing and financing a large number of scattered funds. As one of the main types of Internet finance in China, crowdfunding platform has developed rapidly and raised a lot of funds for start-ups, but the risk of bankruptcy is also very prominent. 20 18 The national crowdfunding industry monthly report shows that as of the end of June 20 18, the overall situation of the crowdfunding industry was 17 1 home, with no new platforms, and 12 closed down. 2065438+June 2008, the national crowdfunding industry successfully raised 2.045 billion yuan. Crowdfunding financing is to raise funds through the Internet platform. Its main form is that the sponsors introduce the project through words, pictures, audio and video, etc., and set the target amount, fundraising deadline and return in advance, and put it on the website for supporters to browse. The website will be audited to some extent. Supporters will provide investment support for the projects they are interested in and help the project sponsors complete the project during the process of browsing the projects. The crowdfunding model includes sponsors, platforms and supporters. The sponsor is the demand side of funds, and the platform for obtaining funds by showing projects and activities to investors is the Internet terminal supporter as the fund provider connecting the sponsor and the supporter.

? There are many crowdfunding financing models. According to the content that fundraisers (project sponsors) provide returns to investors (or supporters), crowdfunding financing models can be divided into four categories, namely, donation crowdfunding based on donations, product crowdfunding based on rewards or pre-sales, equity crowdfunding based on equity, and debt crowdfunding based on payment or debt. At present, there are three types of crowdfunding platforms for SME financing: product crowdfunding, equity crowdfunding and debt crowdfunding.

1, product crowdfunding.

? In this mode, the seller (financing enterprise) receives the advance payment from the buyer (investor) in advance, but the seller cannot deliver the goods immediately. The platform reviews the products released by the sellers and collects a certain intermediary fee from them.

2. Debt crowdfunding.

? This model means that investors invest in the projects or companies of financing enterprises, obtain a certain proportion of creditor's rights, and earn interest income in the future to recover the principal.

3. Equity crowdfunding.

? It refers to putting the financing enterprise on the internet crowdfunding platform (website) and setting it within a certain period of time to attract investors to invest in projects or companies, and the company will sell a certain proportion of shares. In this way, investors can obtain future income through investment companies, and enterprises that raise funds in exchange for equity mainly have the following risks:

1. Information asymmetry risk.

? The risk of information asymmetry is a traditional risk of crowdfunding, which is mainly due to the fact that sponsors may deviate from the data analysis of sponsor identity confirmation and credit evaluation by carefully designing false information and data in crowdfunding activities, which brings many uncertainties. The risks brought by this uncertainty are more obvious in credit activities under the background of the Internet, such as crowdfunding.

2. Credit risk.

? Credit risk mainly refers to the possibility of fraud and default during the project. As a fund raiser in crowdfunding, project sponsors often only require the crowdfunding platform to submit information, and only after the approval can they carry out financing. Although this facilitates the financing of sponsors, it also invisibly increases the risk. Mainly because the crowdfunding platform has the same interest relationship with the sponsors, because the commission of the crowdfunding platform comes from a certain proportion of the funds raised by the sponsors after successful fund-raising, the crowdfunding platform is not an independent third party, and it has doubts about the authenticity and fairness of the information review of the sponsors. Second, after the sponsors raise funds, because investors cannot effectively control the use and flow of funds, the sponsors may change the use of funds without the consent of investors. Third, the rewards promised by the sponsors in advance are not legally binding, and the sponsors may be poorly managed in the later period.

3. Legal risks.

? Legal risks are more significant in product crowdfunding and equity crowdfunding. The legal risks involved in product crowdfunding are mainly suspected of illegal fund-raising or even fund-raising fraud. According to the relevant laws of our country, if the product crowdfunding platform raises investors' funds in advance without clear investment projects, forms a pool of funds, and then publicly publicizes them to attract projects to go online, and then invests in projects, it is suspected of illegal fund-raising; If the platform transfers or uses the funds in the fund pool for other purposes without the knowledge of investors, it is more likely to lead to the crime of fund-raising fraud. The legal risks involved in equity crowdfunding are mainly illegal stock issuance. At present, most of China's equity crowdfunding platforms have failed to conduct non-public offering of shares and equity transfer in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, and must submit an application for issuance to the securities management department of the State Council.

? Therefore, I think the reliability of crowdfunding ultimately depends on the objects and events of crowdfunding, and it is still trustworthy for crowdfunding projects with credit guarantee and legal protection.