한국 크라우드펀딩의 법제화에 관한 연구

A Study on the Legislation of Crowd-Funding in Korea

Since the global financial crisis, funding for startups or ventures has been diminished seriously. In this situation, crowd-funding has attracted worldwide attention as a viable means to financing startups/ventures. After reviewing existing laws in other countries, this study investigated the current status of crowd-funding legalization in Korea and surveyed requirements from three groups of participants to crowd-funding. Investors already recognized the high risk of crowd-funding into startups and asked for the protection of their investment. But, their priorities were on the enlargement of tax benefits and the establishment of a trading market for selling their equity. In addition, investors wanted to shorten the compulsory holding period. Issuers as fund raisers hoped fast legalization, convenient process of crowd-funding, and expansion of government support. Crowd-funding platform operators requested policies for establishing paths to become new growth companies from startups, tax benefits, and the setup of separate fund for startups. Currently, the National Assembly in Korea is holding the discussion on the submitted law. For desirable outcomes to all participants, it would be better to proceed in the following sequence. First, legalize the crowd-funding with clauses protecting investors; Second, encourage investment through tax benefits; Third, develop communities among participants for reducing information asymmetry; And fourth, establish diverse trading markets for selling equities of startups.