Neither BitFunder nor WeExchange operates from the US or is incorporated in the US.
We have spent pretty much every BTC earned so far (and a larger amount of my own personal funds) on lawyers in multiple countries to ensure both site's are as legal as can be while we await final approval from one of a handful of government bodies we are trying to work with.
While I do not wish to give out the current incorporation of BitFunder, it is definitely in a country that is very clear that their first action if believed to be 100% in violation would be a cease and desist. However at this point 100% is about 70% away based on our proposed requests for answers.
While some may say this sounds fishy, the last thing we need is for someone to stir up trouble before we have had a chance to finish.
As I have pointed out to numerous people, as well as many many issuers of securities, and any who join BitFunder:
If you are a person,persons or business operating in the US, and unless you meet some very fine exceptions, you must seek permission to be traded online to be legal.
There are some alternative options which are available, all dependent on what the issuers are doing of course.
BitFunder does not offer legal advice to issuers but does make them aware that they need to do much research if they are insistent upon issuing from the US.
We have had many great asset idea requests come in. Impressive ideas. However they are still working on the legalization of their side of things.
To ease some concerns, the SEC made no statements that US citizens trading on any type of exchange outside the US is illegal.
The sole issues at hand come down to fraudsters and anything issued that obviously meets federal securities standards, barring special case exceptions.
We will continue as before, to finalize the legal standing for BitFunder and continue to build a strong service that the community can look to and depend on.
Some people are upset that the fee's on BitFunder are high. I can assure everyone that these funds are all going to lawyers to meet this end.
Having multiple large law firms whose employee's are former decision making regulators in multiple countries around the world does not come cheap.
I am sure you can imagine how many hundreds of hours a month must be put into research, discussion, and documentation all with many revisions to try to convince different government entities that we should be allowed to do what we are doing because of our special case.
Depending on which comes first, I am hoping to make some sort of announcement within the next 30~60 days with some good news.
-Ukyo
(Per MyJuffy's suggestion I added "Neither" to the very beginning.
