May 20, 2017 @ 4:30 pm By Scott Andersen & George S. Georgiades  |  

With the one year anniversary of Crowdfunding under Regulation Crowdfunding occurring on May 16th, business executives and compliance officers at registered Crowdfunding Portals (CFPs) should be actively preparing for their first regulatory examination by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).   FINRA’s 2017 exam cycle… Read More

Read more in: Featured Headlines, Opinion, Politics, Strategy  |  Tagged enforcement, finra, george georgiades, legal, regulation cf, scott andersen

May 14, 2017 @ 5:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this month I was running CNBC in the background and a commercial came up that caused me to pause. On the screen was a besuited old white male pitching the next great investment. Coming off a bit like a used-car salesman, I learned later… Read More

Read more in: Featured Headlines, Offerings, Opinion, Strategy  |  Tagged advertisting, app, cnbc, legal, perspective, promotion, regulation a, risk, sam guzik, yayyo

May 9, 2017 @ 6:59 am By Jonathan Nieh  |  

Welcome to Part 1 of a series discussing the various ways an issuer can easily screw up their offering. In this part, we’ll be talking about general solicitation as it applies to Regulation D (Reg D) offerings. For those that are unaware, Reg D is, for… Read More

Read more in: Crowdfunding Portals, Offerings, Opinion, Strategy  |  Tagged 506b, 506c, general solicitation, legal, offering, reg d, regulation d, regulations, sec

May 8, 2017 @ 3:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Choice Act is a valiant effort to address the profound shortcomings of the Dodd-Frank law. Dodd-Frank has been lambasted as regulatory overreach driven by politicians that really don’t quite understand what they are doing. At worst, Dodd-Frank has institutionalized too big to fail…. Read More

Read more in: Opinion, Politics  |  Tagged fix crowdfunding act, general solicitation, hr 10, legal, micro exemption, regulation cf, regulations

May 8, 2017 @ 9:55 am By Jillian Sidoti  |  

  I want to be clear: I am not an investor in Elio Motors (OTCQX: ELIO). I did not participate in any manner with their offering under the new and improved Regulation A (also called Reg A+), and I did not promote it. I will… Read More

Read more in: Featured Headlines, Offerings, Opinion, Strategy  |  Tagged elio motors, jillian sidoti, legal, perspective, regulation a, startengine

May 7, 2017 @ 12:11 pm By Jonathan Nieh  |  

On May 3, 2017, the SEC released its proposed amendments to the Investment Advisers Act (the Advisers Act) to reflect changes made under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (the FAST Act). The FAST Act, which was passed in 2015, amended sections 203(l) and 203(m) of… Read More

Read more in: General News, Offerings, Politics  |  Tagged fast act, investment advisers act, legal, regulations, sba, SBIC, sec

May 4, 2017 @ 4:23 pm By Jonathan Nieh  |  

Speaking on a panel at the 4th Annual CrowdfundingUSA Conference today, Sarah Hanks, CEO and Founder of CrowdCheck Inc., talked about some of the compliance issues facing Regulation CF issuers. Issuers Are Not Filing Annual Reports One of the biggest issues discussed was the ongoing reporting… Read More

Read more in: Crowdfunding Portals, Offerings, Opinion  |  Tagged annual report, compliance, issuers, legal, regulation cf, sara hanks, sec, violation

May 4, 2017 @ 3:51 am By Jonathan Nieh  |  

Last week, TABB Group released a report entitled “Financial Markets: Embracing RegTech” which focused on the growing issue of increasing regulatory compliance facing financial institutions today. TABB Group is an international research and consulting firm focused on capital markets. Problem: Increasing Regulations Post-2008 The global financial… Read More

Read more in: Blockchain & Digital Currency, Fintech, Global  |  Tagged cloud, compliance, legal, regtech, regulation, tabb group

May 3, 2017 @ 3:06 pm By Therese Torris  |  

Since the beginning of this year, the German government has undertaken a review of the crowdinvesting regulation introduced in July 2015. It has now officially released its conclusions and is proposing several changes to the existing law, including a most controversial exclusion of real estate… Read More

Read more in: Featured Headlines, Global, Opinion, Politics  |  Tagged bafin, bjorn maronde, exporo, fritz von stechow, german crowdfunding assocation, germany, kasg, kleinanlegerschutzgesezt, legal, regulations, therese torris

April 16, 2017 @ 3:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

First Successful Arbitration Settlement Against a Crowdfunding Scofflaw Prominent crowdfunding marketing firm Funded Today is perhaps the most successful agency in their space today. Having helped to direct more than 300 perk-based crowdfunding campaigns to financial success, Funded Today has now been instrumental in raising… Read More

Read more in: Asia, Featured Headlines, Global, Offerings, Strategy  |  Tagged arbitration, canada, dennis wong, fraud, funded today, holga, hong kong, kickstarter, legal, marketing, piece, rewards, smartgears global

April 13, 2017 @ 10:36 pm By Allen Shayanfekr  |  

According to the Securities Act of 1933, any company that sells securities must either register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or file for an exemption. The JOBS Act 2012 provides a way for companies to use crowdfunding as a means of selling securities,… Read More

Read more in: Featured Headlines, Strategy  |  Tagged 506b, 506c, accredited, allen shayenfekr, legal, real estate, regulation d, sharestates, tactics

April 11, 2017 @ 3:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

Perkins Coie LLP, a legal firm with offices in the United States and Asia, has boosted their Fintech horsepower with the addition of Jacob S. Farber and Frederick B. Fedynyshyn as senior counsel in its Technology Transactions & Privacy practice. Perkins Coie considers itself legal experts… Read More

Read more in: Blockchain & Digital Currency, General News  |  Tagged blockchain, fred fedynyshyn, jacob farber, legal, perkins coie

April 6, 2017 @ 4:30 pm By Jonathan Nieh  |  

Yesterday, the SEC’s Division of Corporate Finance released two new Compliance & Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs) answering questions related to Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF). CD&Is are the Commission’s way of giving some informal guidance, through a question and answer format, on how its staff members interpret certain rules. They… Read More

Read more in: Crowdfunding Portals, Offerings, Politics  |  Tagged compliance and disclosure interpretations, legal, reg cf, regulation cf, regulations, sec

March 30, 2017 @ 2:25 pm By JD Alois  |  

ONAGOFly, a top-twenty Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign and the 2nd most funded drone project ever on the platform, has been hit with a class action lawsuit filed in United States District Court in California on March 27, 2017. The lawsuit was filed by Allan Black, Christopher… Read More

Read more in: Offerings  |  Tagged drone, fraud, indiegogo, lawsuit, legal, onagofly

March 28, 2017 @ 12:30 pm By Amy Wan  |  

So, you want to start a real estate crowdfunding (RECF) platform. This article is intended to serve as a basic guide to launching a real estate crowdfunding platform in the United States. Decide on what you want to do There are many different types of… Read More

Read more in: Featured Headlines, Real Estate, Strategy  |  Tagged amy wan, launching a site, legal, real estate, tactics

March 21, 2017 @ 9:55 pm By Scott Andersen & George S. Georgiades  |  

Much excitement has been generated with the enactment of Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) and the ability of non-accredited investors to invest in startup companies in the United States. The SEC recently reported that while early capital raising efforts is still growing, Regulation Crowdfunding has provided… Read More

Read more in: Featured Headlines, Global, Opinion  |  Tagged allen au, finra, george georgiades, legal, mr crowd, regulation cf, scott andersen, sec

March 17, 2017 @ 3:13 pm By Georgia Quinn  |  

Many entrepreneurs that successfully raised money using the newly enacted Regulation CF (or Reg CF for short) have likely tried to put the tiresome process behind them and are focusing on company operations and executing on their business plans. However, all successful issuers need to… Read More

Read more in: Featured Headlines, Strategy  |  Tagged form c-ar, georgia quinn, idisclose, legal, regulation cf, regulations, tactics

March 6, 2017 @ 10:20 am By Amy Wan  |  

It seems that at least once a week nowadays, I get a call asking whether an initial coin offering (ICO) is regulated at all, and the question came to a head at a recent Legal Hackers LA discussion on smart contracts by Daniel Rice. The… Read More

Read more in: Featured Headlines, Fintech, Opinion, Politics  |  Tagged amy wan, bitcoin, cryptocurrency, digital currencies, dogecoin, enforcement, ic, initial coin offering, legal, sec, securities and exchange commission

March 3, 2017 @ 11:25 am By JD Alois  |  

Lending Club (NYSE:LC) has was a significant court victory regarding its ability to compel arbitration. The case Bethune v. LendingClub Corp. was filed in the Souther District Court of New York in 2016. The issue pertained to the interest rate a New York resident was being charged… Read More

Read more in: Crowdfunding Portals  |  Tagged bethune, legal, lending club, marketplace, online lending, p2p, peer to peer, venable

February 12, 2017 @ 3:35 pm By JD Alois  |  

Gust Launch is a relatively new addition to the Gust portfolio of services for startups. Gust Launch is described as; “one platform to easily incorporate, start, and run your company like a seasoned entrepreneur—designed by experienced startup founders, investors, and lawyers to help you from… Read More

Read more in: Featured Headlines, Fintech, General News, Strategy  |  Tagged caas, company as a service, david rose, gust, gust launch, legal, quora, saas, software as a service