On May 4, 2022, FINRA announced that it had fined two FINRA-registered funding portals a combined $1.75 million for failing to comply with securities laws and rules designed to protect crowdfunding investors. Funding portals...more
On April 12, 2017, FINRA issued three Regulatory Notices requesting comments on proposed changes to various rules relating to financing transactions. Regulatory Notice 17-14 requests comment on all of FINRA’s existing...more
On February 28, 2017, the SEC released a white paper analyzing crowdfunded offerings during the first six months following the effective date of Regulation Crowdfunding (May 16, 2016). The white paper noted that crowdfunding...more
Acting Chair Piwowar made remarks at the the Dialogue on Crowdfunding hosted by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Salomon Center for the Study of Financial Institutions at New York University. In his remarks,...more
On November 2, 2016, FINRA terminated the FINRA registration for UFP, LLC (“UFP”), making UFP the first crowdfunding portal to be expelled from FINRA. UFP ran an online funding portal, uFundingPortal.com, where it acted as...more
In connection with the SEC meeting of the Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies, the SEC posted a presentation which deals in part on secondary trading of Regulation A+ securities. Among other things, it includes...more
Regulatory Developments - SEC Publishes Small Entity Compliance Guide for Crowdfunding - On May 13, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a small entity compliance guide for companies wishing to...more
In time for the effective date of Regulation Crowdfunding, FINRA has issued an investor alert and a press release....more
Monday May 16, 2016 was the first day JOBS Act Title III crowdfunding could be used. Below are links to some portals and other information....more
Funding portal registration is now available through FINRA. This LawFlash discusses funding portals, which are the intermediaries through which crowdfunding will occur, specifically regarding the registration process...more
I previously wrote about the new rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) allowing startups to utilize crowdfunding platforms to sell an equity stake in their business to investors in exchange for working...more
Regulatory Developments - Federal Reserve Board Repeals Regulation AA and Proposes Repeal of Regulation C - On Feb. 11, the Federal Reserve Board took steps towards transferring some of its rulemaking authority to...more
Title III of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) created a new securities registration exemption for crowdfunding offerings by adding Section 4(a)(6) to the Securities Act of 1933 (the Securities Act). In late...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc.'s (FINRA) crowdfunding Portal Rules for companies that want to operate an intermediary “funding portal” pursuant to...more
On January 22, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s funding portal rules and related forms for entities functioning as SEC-registered funding portals pursuant to...more
Regulatory Developments - FDIC Provides Framework for Cybersecurity in Recent Supervisory Insights - The FDIC featured an article titled “A Framework for Cybersecurity” in the Winter 2015 issue of Supervisory...more
The SEC approved FINRA’s Funding Portal rules for entities that intend to function as funding portals in crowdfunded offerings made pursuant to Regulation Crowdfunding. We had previously posted a link to the rule text. On...more
On January 21st, FINRA filed an amendment to its proposed rule changes relating to the registration, supervision and oversight of crowdfunding funding portals. The Securities and Exchange Commission published a notice and...more
On October 30, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) adopted final rules in the form of Regulation Crowdfunding to implement the securities-based crowdfunding exemption in Section 4(a)(6) of the Securities Act...more
On Oct. 30, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) adopted new rules that will enable some private companies to use the Internet for crowdfunding campaigns seeking up to $1 million per 12-month period. ...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently approved Title III of the JOBS Act, a significant development because the new regulations allow non-accredited investors – those making less than $200,000 a year in...more
In this alert, we provide a detailed overview of the final rules, Regulation Crowdfunding, which will be applicable to crowdfunding offerings conducted in reliance on Section 4(a)(6) of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended...more
On October 30, 2015, the SEC voted to adopt final rules permitting crowdfunding. Regulation Crowdfunding allows issuers to engage in securities-based crowdfunding through the internet pursuant to Section 4(a)(6) of the...more
FINRA recently filed a proposed rule change with the Securities and Exchange Commission in order to adopt the final rules relating to Title III crowdfunding “funding portals.” This may signal that indeed the final...more
Regulatory Developments: FINRA Proposes Rules for Funding Portals - On Oct. 9 FINRA filed with the SEC a proposed rule change to adopt Funding Portal Rules 100 (general standards), 110 (funding portal application),...more