[tptacek]

Those other stocks are the result of a multi-year process of disclosure and regulation with the SEC, including quarterly audited financial disclosures, due diligence reviews, and a gigantic mess of filings. Companies pay tens of millions of dollars to get themselves into a position where ordinary retail investors can buy their stock.

These people, on the other hand, are just a bunch of people with a web page. You can solicit investments on a web page, but only from sophisticated buyers, who the law assumes should know better than to invest.

[Aeolun]

> You can solicit investments on a web page, but only from sophisticated buyers

Unless you are selling cryptocurrency or a variety of non-materialized products (crowdfunding).

It seems eminently more reasonable to me to be able to invest in an existing company with an actual product.

[tptacek]

There is a huge difference between speculatively giving money to a company that may or may not provide you with a product and a company promising investment returns. The amount you'll give to the product company is capped by some plausible valuation you give the product itself, which is virtually always very low relative to your net worth. The same isn't at all true of an investment opportunity; people can and do lose their life's savings chasing sketchy investment returns.

If your point is that cryptocurrency speculation should be heavily regulated and even restricted to accredited investors, you won't get any disagreement from me!