By GUEST CONTRIBUTOR for Ecopreneurist.com
DECEMBER 17, 2012
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair, Mary Schapiro, recently announced her resignation from the position, but prior to doing so; put the brakes on removing the ban on general solicitation and advertising for issuers of certain offerings. While not directly related to crowdfunding, this provision of the JOBS Act is potentially one of the most important and necessary components to eventually provide the much awaited crowdfunding regulations.
The SEC was charged to form regulations by July 4th 2012 and clearly blew through that deadline. However, for startups that are looking to utilize crowdfunding to raise early stage capital, there are a few considerations that need to be kept in mind in light of these recent developments:
Don’t Give up Hope
Crowdfunding regulations were anticipated much earlier, but as with anything that requires changing of timeless regulations, it was bound to take longer than the optimists had estimated. The spirit of the legislation still holds to support startups and small business, and some of the members of the new guard at the SEC are believed to be strong supporters of crowdfunding. What appeared to be new delays may actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise by accelerating the pathway to implementation of equity crowdfunding.