The Kickstarter economy: How technology turns us all into bankers

Kickstarter, the crowdsfunding phenomenon wherein venture projects go right to their potential customers or engaged well-wishers for start-up capital, has democratized finance in a way few saw coming, and it could very well be as transformative to banking as digital music had on the recording industry. If and when Kickstarter gains more steam, it could seriously undermine established channels and disrupt entrenched ways of doing things. What the old banks never saw are, in fact untapped wells of possibility. What other markets might be tapped in such an innovative way? What other opportunities are, say, the insurance industry missing out on because it simply fails to see them?