Coming as probably no surprise to a reader of these pages, CFO.com lists crowdfunding as a top finance trend for 2013:
Tight credit at banks will trigger increased use of alternative sources of funding. With regulations like Basel II hamstringing bank lending, private capital providers alternative sources of lending—crowdfunding, especially—will be supplying scads of credit to small and midsized companies. Large companies can issue bonds, so credit will be no problem for them—unless the bond markets reverse direction. In that case, crowdfunding may also come into play among higher-end corporate capital seekers.
Probably of greater interest is their comment that regulations targeting banks is forcing businesses to seek “alternative sources of lending”. So the market is at work. Roadblocks force demand to search for an alternative.