That, and generally those who advocate that something should "take a hit" are usually not the ones who are going to be harmed by it.
You? Or Coinbase?
Because i never asked for the SEC to protect me. We can live in a world with both. You have coinbase with way more backing that bitfinex, and people still choose bitfinex. Let people choose, and if they mess up they mess up.
And you don't live in isolation; you are not an island. Those people that get scammed? They're not going to do so in isolation. That's going to have a ripple effect on the rest of society.