What would have been the alternatives if it wasn’t necessary?
And why do you need to be an investor to spread the service through word of mouth? Anyone can do this without being an investor.
Not once did I mention that this is a downside. I simply said it was the by-product, but not the stated aim. Monzo weren’t doing it to be nice. They have a business to run and profits to make. By your logic, every listed company cares enough about it’s users to give them an opportunity to invest in it’s success.
What has this got to do with the risk being taken by people? The investors could be rewarded a lot more for the risk they are currently taking in Monzo alone. Just to throw some numbers out there, say people are currently taking a 50% risk for a 100% return, It’s actually possible to receive >100% return by also taking an overall risk profile of 50% if investing wisely. No more risk being taken, but higher returns and is what I mean when I say most people are probably not being rewarded for the risks they are taking. Don’t quote me on the numbers, just an illustration.