Part of the problem is that there is zero regulation, so if a "real" company pulled a stunt like this it wouldn't be as big of a deal, shareholders could assume that the company wasn't just a huge scam or that the owners wouldn't run off with some of the money because if it was or they tried that, they'd be prosecuted.
But here, if you lose investor trust it will be difficult to get back.
I agree with you but I don't think Labcoin is a scam. They are just paying the price of too much bullshit and not enough honesty. And as you said, in the BTC world, *trust* is everything.
So what then about Labcoin is legitimate? If they don't have functional PCBs, if they can't provide pcitures of assembled boards, if they can't provide proof of hashing, they don't have anything. If they don't have anything then they are necessarily a scam.