>Right now, IPOs are done at the whim of investment bankers. Look at the league tables [1], there's effectively a cartel of a handful of (mainly US) banks that

>Right now, IPOs are done at the whim of investment bankers. Look at the league tables [1], there's effectively a cartel of a handful of (mainly US) banks that basically dominate how corporations can raise money. This is true, but is it bad? Are there companies anywhere having difficulty raising money? >European countries have tried (and largely failed) to establish players that could at least compete with the US banks and provide an alternative for European companies. Yes, this is a problem with some regulation, and why "breaking up the banks" sentiment in the US is not thought through by proponents. Countries that allow their banking sector to grow will dominate (read: China). >but there's no reason to be completely against the creation of new forms of financing True, but no matter the mechanism, raising money from smaller/more investors will always be filled with scams. We're seeing that play out in Web3; people are losing their shirts because they have no idea what they're investing in or they're willing to risk money to get rich scamming the people coming in after them. There are higher costs of regulation with more investors.