The Legal Status of Crowdfunding Investors: Attuning Protection and Opportunity Seizure
Legal and regulatory challenges of financial crowdfunding – striking a balance between investor protection and market development.
Crowdfunding has transformed the manner in which enterprises raise capital, offering an alternative to traditional financing methods. Among its various forms, financial crowdfunding enables individuals to invest in ventures that may yield a potential financial return. This model fosters innovation and democratises access to investment opportunities, whilst simultaneously exposing a broad range of investors to significant risks, such as unreliable share valuation, misleading advertising, capital dilution, and limited regulatory oversight. A lack of robust legal protection mechanisms can render investors susceptible to fraud and financial losses.
Scope of Research
The project aims to determine whether the current legal framework for financial crowdfunding, particularly that resulting from the ECSPR regulation, ensures an appropriate balance between facilitating enterprises' access to alternative funding sources and the necessity of investor protection. The study will especially address whether the adopted regulatory model effectively responds to the risks characteristic of crowdfunding.
The project will include an analysis of the impact of EU regulations on the functioning of the financial crowdfunding market in Member States, with particular emphasis on Poland. The aim of the study will be to assess whether the existing solutions foster the development of this market or generate excessive barriers for crowdfunding platforms and enterprises seeking capital.
In this context, the study will also aim to determine whether allowing shares in Polish limited liability companies for financial crowdfunding would be a legally permissible and economically justified solution. The analysis will also include an assessment of whether such a solution could contribute to the development of the domestic crowdfunding market while maintaining an appropriate level of investor interest protection.
Queries and research trips academic
- 01
Research Query at the Max Planck Institute, Hamburg, 6–12 January 2025
From 6 to 12 January 2025, I conducted a research query at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg. The purpose of the visit was to collect and analyse literature and source materials essential for the project's realisation. During the stay, substantive consultations were also held under the supervision of the project mentor, serving to refine the directions of further research and verify the adopted research assumptions. The completed trip constituted a significant stage of work on the project, enabling the acquisition of key sources and the deepening of analysis from a comparative legal perspective.
- 02
Research Stay at the University of Genoa, 15–29 March 2026
From 15 to 29 March 2026, I completed a research stay at the University of Genoa. The trip constituted a further stage in the project's implementation and particularly involved substantive consultations concerning the research findings to date. During the stay, I conducted consultations with Professor Eugenia Macchiavello, a recognised specialist in the area of crowdfunding, alternative forms of financing, and issues at the intersection of finance and sustainable development. The discussions served to review the preliminary research results, verify the adopted assumptions, and refine the future directions of analysis. The trip also enabled the supplementation of missing publications and source materials used in further work on the project.
- 03
Planned Research Visit to Aalborg, 28 July – 11 August 2026
From 28 July to 11 August 2026, a research visit to Aalborg is planned, including academic consultations at Aalborg University and further acquisition and analysis of source materials crucial for the project's realisation. The aim of the trip is to discuss the research findings to date with Professor Thomas Neumann and Dr Cecilie Højvang Paulsen, who specialise in the legal aspects of financial crowdfunding and alternative forms of financing. Of particular importance to the project is the recent change in Danish regulations, which permits the public offering of shares in the equivalent of a Polish limited liability company, despite a previous ban on the public offering of shares in such companies. This solution may constitute an important reference point for assessing whether a similar direction of changes could also be considered in Polish law.
Project publications
The list of publications will be updated on an ongoing basis.
- A. Szczęsna, A.-M. Weber, Is the Law of Donations Fit for the Digital Age? A Comparative Study of Donation-Based Crowdfunding in the EU, Rabels Zeitschrift für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht [The Rabel Journal of Comparative and International Private Law], forthcoming.
- A. Szczęsna, Crowdfunding: A Comparative Analysis of Regulatory Approaches in the Republic of Korea and the European Union, The International Review of Financial Consumers, forthcoming.
Conference presentations
- 01
Doctoral Seminar, Institute of Law Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, 16 April 2024
On 16 April 2024, Aleksandra Szczęsna delivered a paper entitled "Interaction of EU and Polish Law and Investment Crowdfunding: A Sketch of the Regulatory Map" during the doctoral seminar "EU Law and its Impact on the Shaping and Application of Polish Law – Current Legal Issues", held in Warsaw in conjunction with the jubilee conference "20 Years Passed Like a Day? Legal Aspects of Poland's Membership in the European Union on the 20th Anniversary of Accession", organised by the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (INP PAN) on 15 April 2024.
- 02
I International Scientific Conference "Finance and New Technologies – Legal and Economic Aspects", University of Opole, 26 April 2024
On 26 April 2024, Aleksandra Szczęsna delivered a paper entitled "Investment Crowdfunding and Legal Protection of Investors" during the I International Scientific Conference "Finance and New Technologies – Legal and Economic Aspects", hosted by the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Opole in cooperation with the Financial Markets Research Circle, the University of Opole Foundation, the Faculty of Economics, and the SKN Aurum Research Circle.
- 03
V Scientific Conference on Alternative Investments, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, 18 October 2024
On 18 October 2024, Aleksandra Szczęsna delivered a paper entitled "Instruments for the Protection of Crowdlenders – Conclusions from a Case Study of the "Skarbiec Palikota" Loan Campaign" during the V Scientific Conference on Alternative Investments, organised by the Faculty of Economics of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS) in Lublin.
- 04
2025 Global Forum for Financial Consumers, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, 22 August 2025
On 22 August 2025, Aleksandra Szczęsna delivered a paper entitled "Strengthening Investor Protection in Crowdfunding: A Comparative Analysis of Regulatory Approaches in the Republic of Korea and the European Union" during the 2025 Global Forum for Financial Consumers – Innovations in Financial Consumer Protection and ESG, hosted by Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, Republic of Korea.
- 05Planned
7th Academic Conference on Alternative Investments, UMCS in Lublin, 15–16 October 2026
7th Academic Conference on Alternative Investments, UMCS in Lublin, 15–16 October 2026 — planned address.
Project team
Project LeadAleksandra Szczęsna
Aleksandra Szczęsna is currently a doctoral candidate in the Department of Commercial Law at the University of Warsaw. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Warsaw and holds a Master's degree in Business Law with a specialisation in French and European Business Law from the University of Poitiers. Her academic research focuses on civil and commercial law within the context of technological advancement, climate change, and social issues.
MentorDr Anne-Marie Weber
Anne-Marie Weber is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Commercial Law at the University of Warsaw, where she defended her doctoral dissertation, which was subsequently awarded by the Chairman of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority in a competition for the best doctoral thesis in the field of financial markets and published as a monograph entitled "Wpływ instytucji prawnych rynku kapitałowego na efektywność spółek Skarbu Państwa" (The Impact of Capital Market Legal Institutions on the Efficiency of State-Owned Companies). She is a graduate of master's studies (LL.M.) at Berkeley School of Law. She lectures on company law and financial market law and is a lecturer at the School of German Law operating at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw. Dr Anne-Marie Weber is a frequent Visiting Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg. She has also served as a Visiting Professor at Berkeley School of Law and the University of Mainz. She has received numerous scholarships and research grants, including from the French government (Campus France), Max Planck Gesellschaft, and the National Science Centre. Her habilitation thesis, currently in preparation, concerns the implementation and enforcement of climate policy objectives through private law institutions, primarily company law.