I wouldn't say "risk-free" but it is definitely a likely outcome that they would go up after release, which means that you do have a chance to make a profit. I know that many people approach it carefully because you are basically investing your money into something that doesn't even exist on any level, and just betting your money that when it is released, so basically when it starts to exist, it will worth more than you invested.

That does make some people some money, but there are plenty of projects that just crashed to zero as well, it is not unheard of and that's why many fear it. I would suggest if anyone cared to join this, then it would be a smart move to just focus on making money based on small capital, just put very little into them.