“Securities Are Sold, Not Bought—But Reg CF Marketing Has Rules: The SEC’s New Reg CF C&DI Guidance”
Advertising and marketing are crucial for Regulation Crowdfunding offerings. As the old sales adage goes – “Securities are sold, not bought.” But marketing an offering compliantly is just as important as the marketing itself, as few activities can get an issuer in regulatory hot water faster than running afoul of the SEC’s rules on promoting […]
Why IPO Candidates Should Consider Regulation A First
Financial newsletters are coalescing around the idea that 2026 will be the year of IPOs. To their credit, a number of high-profile offerings look likely to occur—SpaceX, AI players OpenAI and Anthropic, fitness app Strava, and others have already filed confidentially or announced plans for IPOs later in the year. However, especially for consumer-based companies, […]
“One and done” SPV reporting? Really?
It’s Form C-AR filing season again, and maybe time to discuss an interesting consequence of using a crowdfunding special purpose vehicle (“SPV”). These are used in roughly one quarter of all Regulation CF filings, according to the analysis of our colleagues at Kingscrowd. Everyone in crowdfunding knows that once a company has taken money from […]
AI and Fraudsters are Upending Indicia of Trust in Online Investments
The SEC recently brought an enforcement action against persons who created a fake trading platform for crypto, in which investors were contacted through messaging apps and encouraged to deposit funds in exchange for the crypto products being offered. See, https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025-144-sec-charges-three-purported-crypto-asset-trading-platforms-four-investment-clubs-scheme-targeted. While investment scams are not new, this scam brings together new elements that upend some […]
SEC Announces Examination Priorities.
On November 17, 2025, the SEC released its annual examination priorities covering all categories of entities under its supervision. These include broker-dealers, investment advisers, FINRA, as well as funding portals operating under Regulation Crowdfunding. Although the list of priorities specific to funding portals is shorter than those for other regulated entities, it still signals the […]
Semi-annual reporting for SEC-registered companies?
Coming soon (in my opinion). The President is not the first to suggest that SEC-registered companies be permitted to choose semi-annual instead of quarterly reporting. The idea has been periodically floated since I was an SEC Staffer back in the Dark Ages (less than a generation after quarterly reporting was adopted in the first place). […]
Crowdfunding is for everyone.
One thing I will never get tired of working in this space is the variety of companies that have been able to effectively utilize offerings under Regulation CF and Regulation A. These exemptions are versatile, and allow for companies to raise funds whether they have no interest in being more than a neighborhood restaurant, or […]
Another reason not to violate Section 17(b)
CrowdCheck has blogged many times before about Section 17(b), the stock touting rule. Here’s where we outlined the basics more than ten years ago. Since then, the SEC has brought many Section 17(b) cases, some of them against some very well-known athletes and influencers. Some of those people were fined millions of dollars for promoting securities […]