What was remarkable to me was how quickly the token sale investment sector evolved between 2016 and 2018.<p>When token sales began in 2016, a white paper alone was enough to raise $40 million worth of cryptocurrency. By the end of the brief experiment, which ended with the SEC's entry into the sector in early 2018, the typical token investor was highly discerning, with the result being that only reputable teams were able to raise money.<p>This transformation occurred completely independently from any regulatory action. The collective intelligence of the market increased from hard-won lessons in the need to do due diligence, and the emergence of numerous internet resources that advised on how to effectively invest in token sales.<p>My preference would be for the government to not intervene with regulatory regimentation of the token sale market, but that obvious frauds - where a team promises the moon and then uses the money raised to buy themselves lamborghinis - be punished <i>after the fact</i>. In other words, that the government establish the rules of a free market - no prior restraint, but consequences if you are found to have committed fraud. Yes people would still lose money, but at least the fraudsters wouldn't learn that crime pays, and survive to defraud another day.<p>This would provide the benefits of free market evolution, while still removing bad actors from the market.
Reading this made me think of the coin-op mafia.
<a href="https://www.clicktrack.fm/p/the-dark-history-of-the-jukebox-how" rel="nofollow">https://www.clicktrack.fm/p/the-dark-history-of-the-jukebox-...</a>
Before I clicked on this I thought it was going to be about the coin operated gun in the follow story.<p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/l-p-d-libertarian-police-department" rel="nofollow">https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/l-p-d-libertari...</a>