Critical Review of the Equivalence between P2P Lending and Debt-Based Crowdfunding

The equivalence theory between P2P lending and debt-based crowd-funding mistakenly equates the debt-based crowd-funding that recognized by itself and that in the JOBS Act, which has misled the Chinese regulators in terms of regulatory timing and strategy, distorted the credit risk control system in relation to risk prevention, and kicked off many regulatory conundrums concerned with the P2P lending participants’ role in the context of securities regulation. The rules and regulations concerning debt-based crowd-funding in the JOBS Act are not transplantable for P2P lending regulation in China,nor is the securities regulatory regime. In order to avoid the negative effects caused by the equivalence theory, we should abandon it.