Revolution of securities law in the Internet Age: A review on equity crowd-funding

Along with the development and prevalence of Internet technology, a new financing model - equity crowd-funding - has been rising rapidly in recent years. Against this background, it becomes an important global topic in the field of securities law about how to balance both policy agendas of investor protection and capital formation. By referring to the JOBS Act in the US as a typical example, it is suggested in this article that modern securities law is making an active response to the demand of equity crowd-funding development. Besides expanding the application space of small issues exemption rules, securities law is also going beyond the traditional conceptual division between public and private offerings by introducing a brand-new system of equity crowd-funding exemption.