Regulation can be bad, but it can also be good.<p>People think of history like it was wonderful, but it was full of cons and scams. Reputation matters, and people with reputations charge a premium for it.<p>Some of the best aspects of regulations is exactly to remove the reputation tax by mandating everyone follow the same practices as the trusted institution.<p>The real sad aspect is that the crypto-libertarians of today are repeating some of the exact same <i>clear</i> scams from the wildcatting era, and when it's brought up, it's just mocked because, honestly, who is going to read a book about 19th century finance when you can just watch the new star wars show instead.