In the cryptocurrency market, anybody with a laptop, a little coding knowledge and a dream can invent a new asset, programming a financial instrument from their garage, scaring the pants off of regulators like the SEC, and many banks. That's why it's so popular among libertarians - it's liberty money. However, freedom also comes with responsibility. A free market with little oversight and no system of redress leads to widespread scams and other shady projects.
There are many ways to address this issue - for example, asking ICOs to get escrows to hold their funds until they reach key points in their projects, to prevent them taking the money and running. We can also leverage media to exposed poorly-conceived coins. And, as crypto journalist and consultant Juan Galt points out in this interview, we can stick to established projects like Bitcoin.
