This seems like classic "protect the ignorant, unwashed masses from their own folly" condescension. Sure, people will fuckup and waste their money, a lot. Just

This seems like classic "protect the ignorant, unwashed masses from their own folly" condescension. Sure, people will fuckup and waste their money, a lot. Just like they do now with spinning rims, Big Macs, the stock market, lottery tickets, and televangelism. Should we ban those things because we think we know how to run people's lives better than they do? There are already some pretty severe limits in place to keep people from losing their shirt with crowd investing. Sure, people are going to get scammed, just as they're scammed in numerous ways today, and people are going to throw their money away investing in hopeless companies. But that's not the only thing that will happen. And there's a significant potential for improvement over time in terms of educating investors on risk. I think overall it'll be a big win for everyone despite the abuse. And if it ends up replacing people's even riskier investment schemes (such as the lotto or cousin jim-bob's wacky business idea or the coworkers multi-level marketing scam) it'll be an even bigger win.