This is not dissimilar from the argument that cash would become obsolete because of crypto. That hasn't happened because people don't mind trading some money or freedom for a little more security. Free markets are not pleasant to most people.<p>Also, don't forget that we're seeing ICOs potentially being treated as securities, and they're likely to be just as regulated as traditional investing mechanisms. These regulations will likely be practical to enforce, because most startups will want to do business in the US, China, and/or Europe.<p>I think ML is a much bigger threat to YC, as machine models have been shown to be better than humans at picking successful companies. (Humans have lots of pesky biases that aren't based in reality.)<p>What if there were an ETF of startups? You'd need a team of humans to gather and enter data as best they could, but an algorithm could do the rest at a lower cost.