What is the role of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) as it relates to investment crowdfunding?

Good question. Title III of the JOBS Act established crowdfunding provisions that allow early-stage businesses to offer and sell securities. The SEC subsequently adopted Regulation Crowdfunding to implement the crowdfunding provisions of the JOBS Act. The role of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is to oversee the registration of crowdfunding portals and to ensure that they comply with the federal securities laws and FINRA rules. Broker-dealers and funding portals that are registered with the SEC and are FINRA members are permitted to offer and sell securities on behalf of issuers to the investing public using crowdfunding, or "Regulated Investment Crowdfunding" (#RIC), as we like to call it.