Blockchain

Parallels between ICO’s and the early days of Equity Crowdfunding

(Here is a post from 2015 when I started pushing for Crowdfunding to be moved to the Blockchain) If I go back to 2008, in the very early days of Equity Crowdfunding,  the ASSOB platform has already been operating for around four years. This meant there were plenty of learnings in place even before any …

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Trust and how the Blockchain shifts trust

  Lots of words are being used in tandem with the blockchain and trust. Decentralising trust, Re-intermediaton of trust, Shifting of trust, Unbundling trust, Reassigning trust, Earning trust, Delivering trust and Distributing trust. The effect of the shift in handling trust may surpass the earlier two milestones being the advent of double entry book keeping and …

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Intermediaries, Trust and Equity Crowdfunding

Intermediary-controlled trust has been the main game in selling shares and equity since the 1930’s. That is why regulators have latched onto intermediaries, and their existing regimes to regulate the emergence of crowdfunding. However intermediary-less trust is on its way. A truism that is getting stronger and stronger is that “the crowd will catch a …

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Blue Sky, Regulators, Crowdfunding and “The Crowd”

What the crowdfunding industry has taught us worldwide is that “the crowd” will “out” a bad actor long before any of the regulators do. Regulators came out of the USA “blue sky” laws written state by state between 1911 and 1931. In these times there was no internet, little communication from town to town, regulators …

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Equity Crowdfunding but whose crowd is it?

This article with an Equity crowdfunding headline got me thinking. First equity crowdfunding deal in Australia for 2016 raises more than $675,000 To an entity getting funded to the tune of $675,000 is a great achievement. For a platform to facilitate this is also a great achievement. Well done! However the phrase “With three days …

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An Alternative Title III / Retail / Non-accredited Investors and Equity Crowdfunding Solution

Around the world there is little evidence that regulators can provide a regulatory environment to get traction in the investor aggregation space for retail equity crowdfunding raises under say $600,000. Even in the United Kingdom, where the regulator has allowed the industry to develop and has fine-tuned the regulations as they go virtually every raise …

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Equity Crowdfunding needs to embrace tomorrow not yesterday to get traction

One of the questions in the Australian Equity Crowdfunding discussion paper (CSEF) got me thinking. Are regulators building this for yesterday or tomorrow? Here was the question: “What are the implications for the corporate law framework of permitting proprietary companies to do so? The question should have been … “How can we change the corporate law framework …

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Three reasons why the new Australian regulatory framework for equity crowdfunding is the wrong approach for startups and millennials will leave it in the dust 

Sometimes regulators can’t see the trees for the forest. “Equity Crowdfunding” or CSEF is the  forest. It is a new area, countries worldwide are contriving regulations that are yet to be proven and have no track record of success as legislation or as a “forest”.  Australia, by copying something unproven and bettering it is a high …

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