Topic: Legal Ways of Running a Crowdfunding Platform (Read 1825 times)

In the crypto world it is a bit different I think, as in most countries cryptocurrencies are not or only partly regulated. In many areas it does not even counts as real money just yet

www.crowdcreate.us is something that you can add to your list for crowdfunding. They even got their clients featured in Forbes.

Whenever u r using the word 'legal' u r seeking govt stamp. And whenever u r seeking govt stamp, govt will push their FIAT. So, in cryptocurrency world it is very difficult to say what is legal and what is illegal, because unless a business is dealing with FIAT, there is no govt stamp with it.

Armis this thread is 3 years old and Kumala havent been logged in for 5 months, but if he happend to come by please make sure to fix the bug and remove the IPO flag for all stocks that shouldent have it active Kumala its been many many months now since it should have been fixed.

From the experience of GLBSE we know that there is an abundance of interest for equity crowdfunding using only bitcoins -- regardless of whether or not a platform to provide that is in compliance with securities laws of any jurisdictions.

There's really a stake in the ground that needs to be addressed in this discussion though.  Can (or should) a platform serve more than one jurisdiction?

In the U.S. the eagerly awaited crowdfunding bill is being castrated:

- http://www.cringely.com/2012/11/17/jobs-act-crowdfunding-is-unlikely-to-help-most-startups

So sure, a broker that is fully compliant could accept bitcoins from an investor just as that broker can accept cash / paper money.  But that broker would still need to do all the other legwork involved, and thus still does not serve the low end -- there will not be someone using crowdfunding under the new U.S. JOBS act to get their first $10K, for instance.

But maybe there are other jurisdictions that a platform could be registered in where there is no violation of securities laws there.

If the asset issuer does its entire financial dealings in bitcoin then there's no need for involvement of banks.  This asset issuer could register and operate in nearly any jurisdiction -- particularly one in which equity crowdfunding is not in violation of any securities laws there.

But there's a problem -- if that issuer accepts investment from investors from the U.S., that issuer is likely in violation of U.S. securities law.  Does that mean the equity crowdfunding platform must request (and verify) the identity of each investor in order to ensure that those from the U.S. are not becoming investors?   Or is it as simple as notifying the investor that the service is not offered to those in certain jurisdictions and then the investor must assert (e.g., marking a checkbox) that the investment is not coming from any of those jurisdictions?

Here an article about Australia and Crowdfunding:
https://www.asic.gov.au/asic/asic.nsf/byheadline/12-196MR+ASIC+guidance+on+crowd+funding?openDocument

Selfstarter makes it easy to roll your own crowdfunding site.

Selfstarter
 

http://betabeat.com/2012/04/as-crowdfunding-heats-up-hedgeables-com-promises-free-platform/

Pretty hard to compete with free. Just because its bitcoin probably wont cut it.

With all the many threads discussing the legality of the current available Exchanges/Crowdfunding platforms/OTC or whatever you might want to call it, lets use this threads to capture fact on how this could possibly be addressed in a legal way (US,UK,Europe)

Here are two companies I stumbled upon who provide a service they call "Crowdfunding":
  http://www.rockethub.com   (US based)
  http://www.crowdcube.com   (UK based)

Interesting article on crowdfunding in the UK

http://www.osborneclarke.co.uk/publications/sectors/financial-services/update/2012/crowd-funding.aspx
http://betabeat.com/2012/06/the-u-k-already-has-equity-based-crowdfunding-and-this-startup-just-set-a-record/
http://www.thelawyer.com/crowd-funding-pushing-the-fmsa-boundaries/1009189.article
   This one is interesting as it comments on the way www.crowdcube is operating as does this one:
http://www.kernelmag.com/features/report/2262/crowdfunding-goes-global/

and one more:
   http://betabeat.com/2012/06/the-u-k-already-has-equity-based-crowdfunding-and-this-startup-just-set-a-record/

Got more relevant news articles, court cases or rulings, etc., post here.