Peer-to-Peer Lending: Social Marketplace, Crowdfunding or Finance 2.0?

Abstract

With each passing year the peer-to-peer lending becomes more popular. The increased numbers of users and provided loans through the P2P platforms led us to write this paper to clarify what peer-to-peer lending is and what are the benefits and the flaws of using such platforms. Are they just peer-to-peer or they have evolved in something more complexed with the participation of more “players” like institutional investors, banks and venture capital funds? We shall examine the connections between peer-to-peer lending and other widely discussed terms, such as crowdfunding, social marketplace and finance 2.0. As a conclusion we will give our prediction about the mutual future of technologies and lending.

Keywords: peer-to-peer lending, finance 2.0, crowdfunding, investment, social marketplace

JEL Classification: G23