CROWDFUNDING SYSTEMS: evaluation and government regulation in the conditions of reengineering

Some researchers believe that only 5% of Ukrainians should be considered representatives of the middle class, given such characteristics of the middle class as political preferences and political activity. Abroad, the middle class controls the activities of the state's governing bodies and is the first to react to their wrong decisions. The presence of the middle class in the country is important for the development of crowdfunding because usually, the representatives of the middle class are those who respond to social and business projects and proposals. They are conscious and interested in the development of their own city, region, or state and have the necessary financial security. Of course, some people want to invest or support certain crowdfunding or crowdinvesting projects, but they do not have the financial opportunity to do so. The oligarchs, on the other hand, have the financial base to support such projects, but they have no desire or interest in such activities. They only invest on a large scale in production assets or financial instruments. The middle class is promising because it is characterized by technical and technological literacy . The next factor affecting the existence and development of crowdfunding systems is the availability of Internet access for the population. Today, in the modern world, the number of people who can use mobile communications exceeds the number of those who have access to electricity or water. According to the UN, mobile phones are accessible to more than 80% of humanity. According to the World Bank, the number of Internet users has tripled in the past ten years to 3.9 billion, but more than 50% of the world's population (about 3 billion people) still do not have access to the world wide web (Figure 1.2). Besides, despite the rapid development of mobile communications, about 2 billion people do not use mobile phones, and almost half a billion people live in areas where there is no mobile signal. In Ukraine, the number of Internet subscribers as of 06/30/2016 amounted to 14722.4 thousand people, 99.5% (14648.4 thousand people) of which receive broadband Internet access services. In 2017, there were 21.6 million Internet users in Ukraine (Figure 1.3). The United Kingdom, Japan, and Canada are among the leaders in the number of Internet users. The United States, Germany, and Australia are below. At the same time, the greatest amount of residents who use landline broadband connection per capita are in the United States, Japan, Macao (China), and Estonia. At the same time, more than 50% of Internet users from the total population live in 77 countries ( ɍɝɨɥɶɤɨɜɚ and ɋɤɢɛɿɧɫɶɤɢɣ , 2017). 30