Strategy

January 31, 2019 @ 8:52 pm By Scott Andersen  |  

On January 22, 2019, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) released its examination priorities for 2019.  At the top of the list was online funding platform compliance with the securities laws. With an uptick in the offer and sale of securities offerings online with Rule… Read More

January 28, 2019 @ 4:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

FINRA recently posted their annual Risk Monitoring and Examination Priorities Letter. As part of the letter, FINRA stated they would be evaluating how firms conduct suitability analyses as well as communications and AML requirements for both Reg D 506c and Reg A+ offerings. These two exemptions… Read More

January 24, 2019 @ 3:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

There has been a good amount of discussion about the impact of the government shutdown and the effect on government employees who are not being paid.  The shutdown is also undermining sectors of the economy that depend on furloughed public employees. One sector of finance that has… Read More

January 23, 2019 @ 2:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

The European Crowdfunding Network (ECN) has announced the creation of a new group entitled the ECN-Italian Strategic Group (ECN-ISG). The ECN is the leading pan-European voice for investment crowdfunding. The objective of the ECN-ISG Working Group is to foster a more robust culture of crowdfunding in… Read More

January 22, 2019 @ 12:00 pm By Zhuling Chen  |  

Make way for the next generation of blockchain crowdfunding Alongside the rise of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) saw explosive growth in 2017, with more than 1,500 ICOs raising a combined total of over $28 billion in the last two years alone…. Read More

January 18, 2019 @ 3:00 pm By Mark Elenowitz  |  

In 2012 the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama. It required the SEC to write rules and issue studies on capital formation, disclosure, and registration requirements. There were three main areas that the investment community took notice… Read More

January 16, 2019 @ 9:07 am By JD Alois  |  

MicroVentures, an equity crowdfunding platform, has just announced the elimination of all fees associated with issuers using Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF). MicroVentures says “gone are the days of high commissions and equity compensation for funding portals.” A quick visit to their site and you may… Read More

January 7, 2019 @ 6:00 pm By Lorna Smith  |  

Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) are booming in offshore financial centres. In 2017, only a small minority of cryptocurrency transactions were taking place offshore but just a year later, according to a study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and CryptoValley, the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Singapore… Read More

January 7, 2019 @ 11:08 am By Cali Haan  |  

Management consultancy McKinsey & Company have published an elegant analysis of enterprise blockchain called “Blockchain’s Occam,” stating: “A key to finding the value is to apply the technology only when it is the simplest solution available.” Blockchain has been touted as a revolutionary technology capable… Read More

December 23, 2018 @ 10:09 am By Max Lyadvinsky  |  

Equity crowdfunding platforms have democratized the way that individuals and organizations raise and invest capital, by lowering the previously high barrier to entry for investment. And, ever since these platforms emerged, expectations have been high about the effects that this new utilitarian form of investment… Read More

December 21, 2018 @ 11:59 am By JD Alois  |  

This week, CI reported about a problem for Regulation A issuers (or Reg A+ as it is called). Speaking with Mark Elenowitz, a Wall Street veteran and CEO of Tripoint Global and Bank, he explained a nagging problem for issuers using the security exemption who… Read More

December 20, 2018 @ 6:50 am By JD Alois  |  

Blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) has been a red-hot topic in the financial services industry the past few years. The one-two punch of Bitcoin excitement and the Ethereum fueled revelation of smart contracts and decentralization, caused many to label blockchain internet 3.0. But is… Read More

December 19, 2018 @ 8:29 pm By JD Alois  |  

Today, Reg A+ received a big boost from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as they announced that reporting firms will soon be able to use the security exemption. Old Regulation A was an exemption that just about no one used – ever. It took… Read More

December 19, 2018 @ 9:22 am By JD Alois  |  

Stablecoins are currently a hot sector of crypto. Tied to an asset like fiat currency like the US dollar, or a commodity, these digital currencies are designed not to fluctuate dramatically in a crypto world with endemic volatility. A recent report indicated that more than… Read More

December 18, 2018 @ 11:17 am By Doug Ellenoff  |  

This summer, with little fanfare, the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) announced some interesting and, in our view, directionally enlightened ideas on potential changes to state securities laws as they relate to secondary market trading. If you aren’t familiar with NASAA, it is a… Read More

December 14, 2018 @ 9:32 am By Onki Kwan  |  

Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been actively pursuing all players in the initial coin offering (ICO) space, including companies that have raised money with ICOs, an exchange, people promoting ICOs, and most recently, an ICO investment fund. The SEC’s recent actions are… Read More

December 6, 2018 @ 2:49 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Security researchers from the Imperial College of London say cryptocurrency pump-and-dump schemes are creating at least $7 million a month in fake volume, money presumably scalped from crypto traders not in the loop, Technology Review reports. On November 14th, for example, researchers Jiahua Xu and Benjamin… Read More

December 4, 2018 @ 2:49 pm By JD Alois  |  

Crowdcube, the UK’s largest investment crowdfunding platform, has announced a new service, “Thrive for Fintech.” Crowdcube explains that Thrive is a “series of support programmes for companies raising on Crowdcube, where [they] partner with leading VCs, and top-tier law and accounting firms to help companies… Read More

December 3, 2018 @ 9:05 am By Charles Kaufman & Jor Law  |  

Those who have read the SEC settlements with AirFox (CarrierEQ.Inc.) and Paragon Coin, Inc. published on November 16, 2018, will note that the defendant ICO issuers agreed, among other things, to register their “coins” under the Exchange Act (the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) by filing… Read More

December 2, 2018 @ 10:30 am By Dror Futter  |  

In late 2013, seed accelerator YCombinator introduced the SAFE (simple agreement for future equity) – a convertible instrument designed to make seed stage investing quicker and less expensive. The SAFEs quickly became a popular structure for seed investing.  Early this fall, YCombinator introduced several changes… Read More