Friday, December 31, 2021

Dear friends,

Thank you for another year far surpassing my hopes both personally and professionally.

The CfPA continues to be highly-regarded here and abroad as a generous and vital organization expanding access to capital and opportunity for entrepreneurs, small businesses and investors. Our work in 2021 helped Crowdfunding reach new highs, extended our global voice, and expanded our capacity domestically. We saw over $500M raised using RegCF offerings where even non-accredited investors finally got a piece of the pie. We saw RegA+ offerings land over $2B. For these, and so many other reasons, it continues to be an honor to be a part of a leadership team on the cutting edge of Alternative Finance. CfPA’s reputation continues to be enhanced by the many professionals who freely contribute their time and expertise to advancing the association and the industry. There have been so many noteworthy moments and I look forward to seeing even more debut in ’22.

In 2021...more

Sunday, January 13, 2019

Dear friends,

A vast majority of you reading this letter are part of the Crowdfunding community—whether you know this yet or not, your knowledge, initiative, collaboration...and pocketbook have made our industry touch more lives than you might imagine. We at the Crowdfunding Professional Association thank you for all your imagination, hard work and follow-through, and celebrate with you the continued growth enjoyed by communities everywhere. I want to preface this letter by making certain my fellow volunteers at the CfPA are aware just how fortunate we are to have their gift of time, knowledge and leadership—thank you, again.

At its simplest, Crowdfunding lives at the intersection of crowdsourcing and alternative finance, and even until recently was seen more as a funding method for ventures too risky for conventional capital or for entrepreneurs lacking loan-worthy collateral or relevant experience. But in just six+ years since passage of the JOBS Act, Crowdfu...more

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Dear members, friends and colleagues,

Unlike students “getting back to school” each fall, the best work of our association’s many volunteers tends to commence at the start of each new calendar following a frenetic year-end rush both professionally and personally. So, welcome back—I hope your 2018 was prosperous, and your holiday break inspirational and renewing.

Before outlining our goals for 2019, I need to first thank and congratulate all for a pivotal year that commenced with the necessary and successful recruitment of what many have confessed to me is an enviable assembly of alternative finance pioneers and thought leaders—over 34 remarkably generous board members, advisors and committee members, tripling all previous leadership. I am humbled to have gained your mindshare and commitment toward pursuing the CfPA’s noble mission. However, I emphasize “toward” because, as an organization, our ultimate fulfillment remains just over the horizon—we have much to...more

On March 14, 2022 I wrote about putting a 4k Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT up for sale (all proceeds to charity) on OpenSea to point out structural deficiencies in "NFTs 1.0" and concluded that it was "exhibit #1 that these 'digital art' NFTs represent a bubble about to burst." (Note: It didn't sell) https://crowdfundingecosystem.com/kb/article/psychedelic-safari-bored-ape-nft-for-sale-proceeds-to-charity 

On that day, the floor trading price of a BAYC NFT was $233,301. The bubble continued to inflate for another six weeks until April 30 when it reached $420,430. But as of this writing, August 30, it's down to $114,335 which is a 50.99% DROP from my March 14th posting and a 72.80% drop from the peak. 

Now for Exhibit B: NFT trading on OpenSea is crashing. See: "Trading volume on top NFT marketplace OpenSea down 99% since May" https://fortune.com/2022/08/29/nfts-opensea-crypto-winter-bubble-blockchain-web3

It appears all those OpenSea wash traders are spending the summer months w...more

CrowdCheck CEO Sara Hanks Helps Clients Avoid Problems

CrowdCheck CEO Sara Hanks says securities law enforcement differs dramatically from traffic enforcement. If you speed and don’t get caught in the act, you don’t worry about later being investigated for a traffic violation. Sara says that’s not how it works for securities:

We often have the mom conversation. “Well, if everybody jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you do it?”

Part of the problem here is understanding that it takes the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission] about two years to think about, well, maybe they really shouldn't have done that. And another year to issue the subpoena and another year to capture the information.

We've got people who are receiving subpoenas for stuff they did in 2017. I mean, the SEC is out there. Just because somebody did something recently doesn't mean, A, that they're going to get away with it and B, that you're going to get away with it if you copy them.
 
  

Watch the inte...more

What to Know Before You Take the Plunge

The investment crowdfunding marketplace is growing faster than ever before, and is projected to grow by $196.36 billion from 2021 to 2025.

Unfortunately, industry watchers have observed an alarming level of non-compliance with the most basic rules of Regulation Crowdfunding by both companies raising capital and the platforms hosting the campaigns.

Non-compliance can result in regulatory enforcement action and/or investor lawsuits.  So if you’re considering dipping a toe into the crowdfunding world, compliance should be at the top of your list.

In 2016, the SEC completed its rulemaking process for Regulation Crowdfunding.  It suddenly became possible for a business to list an investment offering on a platform, and anyone in the United States could invest in the offering.  But before doing that, the business, as well as the platform, must comply with some basic rules of the road.

According to a recent analysis, only a small minority ...more