You could make that argument about anything. People who use credit cards need to do their research and understand the 200 page card agreement, so we shouldn't p

You could make that argument about anything. People who use credit cards need to do their research and understand the 200 page card agreement, so we shouldn't punish lenders by having consumer protection laws. Startups are exactly this same sort of risk, except it's even worse - there aren't even terms and agreements saying exactly what's being received in return for money. There's no way crowd funded equity owners are going to get access to due diligence that would make it a responsible investment. And there's no way way, ever, that a startup makes sense from a responsible investing perspective to a random Joe off the street. It's essentially a lottery ticket because there's no way to accurately assess the value and risk of what they're investing in, and even if there was any sane financial planner will tell you it's a bad investment for regular people.