I completely agree. The refund rates of popular limited-time only specials, 10-20%, would suggest unsophisticated "investors" are willing to do desperate things

I completely agree. The refund rates of popular limited-time only specials, 10-20%, would suggest unsophisticated "investors" are willing to do desperate things including risk far more money than they can afford to lose, when an emotional appeal is powerfully made to them. This can very often lead to financial woes. This is a very real problem. However, I have an especially hard time believing the government can make Internet-based regulatory initiatives work at all. In the modern day, where what is right and what is wrong is increasingly fought for over social media, I have to wonder what the role of government will be. Saying we need regulation is a nice thought, but it's going to run up against some practical realities that make the current regulatory regime particularly ineffective. For example, Counterparty [1] enables anyone, located anywhere in the world, to raise money from anyone else anonymously with Bitcoin. It's "pseudonymous", but come on. Is the SEC ready for that world? We are about to witness a completely unregulated global securities market take shape, and we have a government that can't make Healthcare.gov! The most interesting question to consider is how do we protect consumers in a new world where they will be faced with countless, potentially anonymous securities offerings from complete strangers, many of whom will be located overseas or engaged in gray area trades. Talk about a nightmare for slow-moving bureaucracies. 1: https://counterparty.co https://counterparty.co