>Why are there so many ex-convicts in this ICO/crypto space? >Why do we have criminals being entrusted with people's livelihood?

The second sentence answers the first: we do not want to trust criminals with people's livelihoods, so we leave lots of brainpower lying around outside of "normal society" because we don't want to let an embezzler write accounting software. Is it any wonder, then, that we would see an abnormal number of criminals end up working in a field where there was money but nobody to keep them out? You and I can choose between academia, industry and weird self-owned schemes, but there is a certain group of smart people that have only one option...