Crowdfunding ECO Town Hall Ask to Join

According to news reports, the applications for funding portals is on the rise. I've had a couple people approach me asking about the process. FINRA outlines the process in their "How to Apply as a New Funding Portal" guide: https://www.finra.org/registration-exams-ce/funding-portals/how-apply-new-funding-portal I'd recommend anyone planning to undertake this process be sure to hire competent legal counsel to make sure that you're doing things correctly - both for the application and when designing your portal / building the tech platform.  

Crowdfunding Ecosystem Tip of the Day:

Have you come across any interesting crowdfunding news that would be suitable for posting on our site, highlighting in our newsletter, or in tweeting out to the thousands of followers on the CfPA twitter account?

If so, please share with the community and make your suggestions by pasting your news link here: https://www.crowdfundingecosystem.com/#suggest 

All articles will be approved before we blast them out - but if it's worthwhile news or information, there's a good chance it will get approved and seen by the community. 

New York, NY, October 23, 2019​ - The Crowdfunding Professional Association (CfPA) is pleased to announce today the addition to its Board of Directors Jenny Kassan, co-founder of ​Crowdfund Mainstreet​, author of ​Raise Capital on Your Own Terms​, and attorney and advisor for mission-driven enterprises.
”As a new board member of the Crowdfunding Professional Association, I’m honored to serve alongside this talented group of industry experts,” said Kassan. “Investment crowdfunding offers massive potential to democratize impact investing, and we need organizations like CfPA to advocate for this amazing tool. ”
As an attorney and capital raising coach, Kassan works with mission-driven entrepreneurs to raise capital in alignment with their goals and values. Kassan has been helping her clients raise funding from community investors since 2006​ and submitted the petition to the SEC which led to the passage of the 2012 JOBS Act.
The CfPA’s 17-member Board of Directors (see: ​http://www.cfpa.org/about/#board​) is a committed group of industry leaders and operators across the Alternative Finance landscape including Crowdfunding platforms, legal, financial and accounting professionals, academic thought leaders, and globally recognized industry advocates.
Scott McIntyre​, President and Chair of the CfPA said, "The CfPA’s board of directors is fortunate to feature some of the most generous and talented professionals I’ve had the pleasure to work with, and Jenny’s recent addition to our leadership felt more like a homecoming due to her legacy contributions in our field that pre-dated even the
 formation of the group. Only a week in, and she’s already added to our knowledge base--we look forward to her ongoing contribution with great anticipation."

The Crowdfunding Professional Association’s mission is to cultivate small business growth by opening up avenues to funding Main Street businesses that previously did not exist. Recommending the use of all SEC filing exemptions, the CfPA strives to empower startups and small businesses to fund the businesses so crucial to America’s economic success.

In that regard, we at the CfPA unequivocally support enabling regulated Cannabis Entrepreneurs and Small Businessmen and Women to use JOBS Act Crowdfunding to build the companies so crucial to Main Street America success. 

The full support letter can be downloaded on the CfPA ECO ... 

(Letter Signed by: Samson Williams Board Member and member of the Education & Training Committee Crowdfunding Professional Association) s...@...m  

Interesting read on CCN: 

Why the SEC’s ‘ICO Guide’ Paints a Dark Picture for Cryptocurrency in 2019

Some items referenced:

According to the SEC, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a centralized, proprietary exchange, or a decentralized, autonomous piece of code – what matters is that unregistered buying and selling happens there:

“The activity that actually occurs between the buyers and sellers—and not the kind of technology or the terminology used by the entity operating or promoting the system—determines whether the system operates as a marketplace and meets the criteria of an exchange under Rule 3b-16(a).”

That explains the charges brought down on the EtherDelta exchange, and its creator, Zachary Coburn, last year. At the time, the SEC described Coburn’s crime as:

“[Providing] a marketplace for bringing together buyers and sellers for digital asset securities through the combined use of an order book, a website that displayed orders, and a smart contract run on the Ethereum blockchain.”

But according to the non-profit digital civil-rights group, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), prosecuting people who upload open-source bundles of code to Github would be clear violation of First Amendment rights.

Full article: 

https://www.ccn.com/sec-ico-dark-cryptocurrency-2019