Rules like this exist only to maintain old wealth at the expense of the young. Just like with Ponzi, you need new idiots to come along and dump their money int

Rules like this exist only to maintain old wealth at the expense of the young. Just like with Ponzi, you need new idiots to come along and dump their money into a pot so that the early investors can cash out. The early investors need to be early! You can't have young idiots coming in at the beginning, they might cash out before you. So a two-phase investment system is required: the old money that can invest early, and the new money that can be exploited by them. Conveniently, the old money controls politics and gets to write the laws, which is why there is a law restricting only "accredited investors" as eligible for being in the first round.. the only profitable round. A friend of mine sold a startup and spent months talking to the uber rich, people with net worths north of 500M. His eyes were opened when he realised that the entire system favours these people and the preservation and expansion of their wealth. It's not an accident. They buy these laws!