The SEC isn't there to protect "unsophisticated investors". They're there to protect the interests of their own private little club of sophisticated investors and to make sure that their tax base remains sound enough to continue the parasitic drain on the working and middle class.

The disaster they want to prevent is everyone in the middle class mortgaging their homes to go full on into cryptoland which could crash their entire scheme overnight if it went south. Then for once the parasites would have to foot the bill because the middle class would have to be bailed out.

They can take a chance on the top 1% squandering resources of all the rest of us, but they don't want to make it easy for the average person to lose money, because that's the stable base they count on.