It’s not often that an SEC Commissioner quotes Bruce Springsteen – not once, but twice – in a 
speech on securities regulation. But SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce did just that in a February 6, 2020 speech in which she unveiled her novel proposal for a digital asset safe harbor. The proposal would create a three-year
On October 11, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) announced 
it filed a complaint and obtained a temporary restraining order against Telegram Group Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary TON Issuer Inc. (collectively, “Telegram”) relating to Telegram’s offering of tokens without registration in violation of the Federal securities laws. The action sends a strong
On July 10, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission 
declared Blockstack PBC’s offering statement “qualified”, thus allowing Blockstack to commence the distribution and sale of its Stacks Tokens under Regulation A. This is the first offering of digital tokens to be qualified by the Commission under Regulation A, a significant milestone for the blockchain industry
Non-accredited investors are estimated to constitute approximately 92% of the U.S. population. Yet 
restrictive rules governing exempt offerings have significantly limited their freedom to invest in private offerings and prevented or discouraged issuers from selling them privately offered securities. But in a recently issued concept release, the Securities and Exchange Commission has signaled a
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint last week against the founder of venture-backed
mobile payments startup Jumio, Inc., charging him with causing the company to prepare false and misleading financial statements that inflated the company’s earnings and gross margins and with defrauding secondary market purchasers of his shares. The founder, Daniel Mattes, agreed
Real estate developers should seriously consider equity crowdfunding to fund development projects for two
major reasons, one of which has little or nothing to do with money. The first reason is that new securities offering legislation enacted in 2012 creates new legal capital raising pathways which allow developers for the first time to use the
On December 19, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued final rules to permit reporting companies under the Securities Exchange Act to offer securities under Regulation A (affectionately referred to often as Regulation A+), as mandated by the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act of 2018. The rule amendments also provide that so
If you were looking for a safe blockchain investment and had the chance to invest in the “first licensed and regulated tokenized cryptocurrency exchange and index fund based in the U.S.” and audited by a Big 4 accounting firm, you might do it, right? One problem: turns out it’s not licensed, regulated or audited.
On
Private companies in the gig economy like Uber and Airbnb would love to issue compensatory equity to their 
platform participants, just like they’re able to do with their employees. The problem is that the exemption from registration for compensatory issuances only covers issuances to employees and consultants of the issuer. Last July, however, the Securities
On June 28, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a release amending the definition of “smaller reporting company” (“SRC”) to expand the number of reporting companies eligible for relaxed or scaled disclosure. The change is estimated to benefit nearly 1,000 additional small public companies currently outside the SRC definition. But equally noteworthy in the