The SEC is not trying to gate-keep wealth building, they're trying to protect consumers from fraudsters that feast on average consumers.

People act like all of these companies trying to cash in on the crypto gold rush are on the up and up, but historically when there's a gold rush, there are unscrupulous actors seeking to cheat and steal from unsuspecting marks.

We can throw up our hands and just say 'free market' and 'caveat emptor', but if too much money gets roped into a financial bubble, when it bursts it hurts everybody.

So right now there are crypto firms making all kinds of claims about how their assets are backed, or how consumer money is safe in their little DeFi account. It is, and should be in the SEC's (and the NYAG's) purview to regulate that.