We can't charge performance-based fees as much as we'd like to with mass retail clients, according to the SEC[0]. Not charging except when a client portfolio beats a benchmark or profits counts too. AUM fees are considered by the SEC to be the best way to align incentives between advisors and clients.

Furthermore, up to this point, we've been completely free for current clients to ensure we're providing value before charging anything.

At the same time, we charge a fraction of the fees vs other "high-performance" oriented managed alternatives: Grayscale at 2%, Titan at 1%, typical hedge fund 2/20, etc

We're VC-backed, SEC-registered, our goal at the end of the day here isn't a quick cash grab, it's to be a long-standing, sustainable, valuable experience for clients in a space (high risk investing) that currently lacks exactly those things.

(and by the way: an AUM fee is just about the slowest way one could "cash grab", decades-old robo-advisors are barely profitable with it. It's not a high-margin business at all).

[0]: https://www.sec.gov/rules/other/2021/ia-5733.pdf