SEC Boots Up for Internet Age (may allow startup crowdfunding)

The notion that you will need permission to raise any kind of capital in a certain kind of approved mannor is going to be very outdated very quickly.

An almost ruleless stock exchange is launching next week denominated only in Bitcoin, and there have been "companies" that have been operating for months after issueing "shares" for capital (bitcoin in this case).

Some have raised as much as $30,000 equivalent in bitcoin.

Who cares about the sec anymore.

Seems like this wouldn't be needed for most software startups. Even with the 499 limit, you could raise, say, $100 each from 400 investors, and have $40,000 of runway to get you to the point of looking for angel or VC funding. More complex problem domains would probably need more, of course, and it wouldn't work at all for a hardware company that needs $100,000 in equipment to get off the ground.

Is there a way around the WSJ's paywall? Seems to be not quite as easy to defeat as the NYT's.