Mobile Payments Platform Bitcoin Now Part of StartEngine Crowdfunding

The mainstreaming of cryptocurrency—which is already in place if you take the words of deVere Group CEO Nigel Green at face value—is often talked about, though isn’t exactly perfectly understood. Most understand “mainstreaming” to mean “you can use cryptocurrency the same way you’d use cash,” and that means quite a few use cases have yet to come about to really make it mainstream. One more way has recently come into play, as StartEngine crowdfunding will now accept the bitcoin cryptocurrency, as StartEngine recently tipped us off about.

StartEngine, the reports note, is taking advantage of the Regulation Crowdfunding exemption from registration according to the Securities Act of 1933. This in turn makes StartEngine the only Financial Regulation Authority (FINRA)-regulated funding portal to accept bitcoin as a form of investment.

This actually isn’t the first time that StartEngine took bitcoin, either; back in spring, it was using Regulation A and Regulation D exemptions to Rule 506(c) to allow it to transfer bitcoin directly to the company without converting same. Now, it’s simply opening up the floodgates just a little further.

StartEngine co-founder and CEO Howard Marks explained further “When we began hosting regulated ICOs on our platform in the fall of 2017, we knew there was a market demand for entrepreneurs that wanted to accept cryptocurrency directly. Those entrepreneurs can now accept Bitcoin as a form of payment, and we hope to continue to make our platform more accessible to both entrepreneurs and investors. We needed to find a qualified custodian in order to accept Bitcoin, and with Prime Trust as our partner, we are now the only regulated entity to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment for securities.”

Basically, StartEngine saw a demand in the market and went to fill it, which is the fundamental purpose of capitalism, when you get right down to it. The fact that it had to juggle so many different regulations in order to get there should really prove more distressing than anything else. We need a level playing field for cryptocurrency, and if it’s ever really going to go mainstream, some of these regulations need to be removed.

Instead of being so concerned about how criminals will use cryptocurrency, let’s instead focus on how regular people will use cryptocurrency instead. The difference could be astonishing.