ABSTRACT
Introduction Crowdfunding is a mechanism of fundraising on the Internet without a conventional financial institution as agency, which provides individuals and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with an alternative finance channel. This is an intermediary system by which people may raise funding, instead of a conventional lending system. Without enough credit or collateral, SMEs face difficulties in raising funds from capital markets; this is a problem worldwide. To encourage efficient fundraising and the growth of startups and SMEs, in 2012 the United States introduced the crowdfunding mechanism in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBs) Act; this was enacted by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) on January 2016. An increasing number of countries are adopting the mechanism of crowdfunding, including, in 2015, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thailand. The financial authorities of China and Singapore are also drafting crowdfunding bills as of early 2015.
