San Diego based bitcoin wallet provider AirBitz is opening a crowd equity funding round using WeFunder and BitPay. The JOBS Act’s lessening restrictions on Crowd Investing is being cited as to why it is possible.
News flash to anyone investing in obscure ICOs, your investment may not be legal, strictly speaking. The United States has traditionally held strict controls on who can invest in public offerings by companies. That changed earlier this year when the JOBS Act passed by Congress went into effect. That bill included a section on crowd equity campaigns. Previously, any potential investor in the United States needed to either have $1,000,000 in assets not including their primary residence or $200,000 in annual income for the past two years. U.S. companies dealt with this disadvantage for years, while companies in other nations, like the U.K. were not as restricted.
In order to deal with the evolving reality of the internet and the investment opportunities it provides, that restriction has been lifted. In theory, anyone with the cash on hand can invest in a company making a public offering. Companies still need to follow rules in order to stay in compliance, but crowd investing is much more feasible in 2016 compared to a year prior.
“As equity crowdfunding with non-accredited investors under Title III [of the JOBS Act] comes into effect, it will have massive implications for startups and investors alike, allowing everyday citizens to invest in startups.” Said Crowdfunder.com CEO Chance Barnett in an Op-Ed piece for Forbes.
AirBitz hopes to raise between $100,000 and $1,000,000 during their campaign. AirBitz is one of the most successful bitcoin wallet providers. They boast hundreds of thousands of mobile wallet installs and a clean track record when it comes to hacks. AirBitz gives users complete control of their private keys and don’t store them in their own servers. This limits any gains a hacker could get by hacking AirBitz. Many other exchanges and wallet services keep private bitcoin keys and user information on their own servers. That gives hackers a big prize to shoot for. By putting everything into the hands of their customers, there is no prize of significance for hackers attacking AirBitz.
In addition to providing wallet services through its mobile app, AirBitz also makes its Edge Security SDK available to blockchain developers. Developers can use the Edge SDK to add blockchain powered transactions to their mobile app, or secure user data, with just a few lines of code.
AirBitz claims to be the first cryptocurrency company to take advantage of the opportunity opened by the JOBS Act. They are also the first company on WeFunder to take advantage of BitPay integration.
They may be the first, but they probably won’t be the last. We will keep you up to date on all significant legal crowd investing opportunities in cryptocurrency.