The Accredited Investor Standard is an outdated rule that prohibits the average person from benefiting from a variety of investments, in both the traditional stock markets and the crypto markets.

The rule was founded with good intentions, to keep people who are "unsophisticated" from complex investments that they may not understand and lose money investing in.

However, the rule now prohibits many average people who are sophisticated and intelligent from benefiting from early stage investing. Early stage investments, like IPOs and ICOs, often yield the best returns and most potential to make money. Limiting these investments to only a select few, allows only a select few to profit. In this case it can create a "rich getting richer" scenario.

We believe that there should be some protections kept in place, but only allowing persons with a net worth of one million dollars, who also make over 200k dollars annually, is leaving most Americans out of these lucrative early stage investments. 

We propose expanding the definition, to allow individuals who want to invest the ability to do so.

People in the United States make choices every day that are life altering. They take loans, gamble, make medical decisions, and more. They are warned during these choices with terms and conditions. They must understand and accept the terms to continue. Why should investing be any different? Average persons should be allowed to invest. A simple set of warnings or even a basic online test could be used to allow these people to do so. There could still be limitations on the amount invested but to totally exclude a class of people because they are not wealthy is unfair and unequal.

We would like the SEC to revisit the current rules and recommend to Congress that we expand the Accredited Investor definition. It should be more inclusive, allowing many Americans the option to invest and participate in these financial markets and opportunities.

More about this topic, especially as it pertains to Crypto investing here: http://averagejoecrypto.com/crypto-accredited-investors-fix-rules