once i was happy about ETFs and thought they can help bitcoin's popularity but now i don't know. they may even cause more restrictions over normal way of investing in bitcoin. they can even lead to restrictive regulations set by SEC for example on bitcoin exchanges and force people to go through these ETFs.
I don't think exchanges generally fall within the jurisdiction of the SEC unless an exchange is engaging in trading of securities. That may be the case with altcoin exchanges trading in ICO tokens that are securities, but it shouldn't apply to Bitcoin nor cryptocurrencies in general. They also can't force anyone to use these ETFs instead of obtaining bitcoins for themselves. If the government really wanted to stop the use of unlicensed exchanges, I think they would have to pass prohibitions in Congress.
Personally, I'm looking forward to it. When I leave my current job, I want to roll my 401k into something with exposure to Bitcoin. Not possible with my current 401k through my job. An ETF would do quite nicely there, and I would enjoy day trading tax free on it.
Most exchanges are hosted in foreign places where most of these laws don't apply. if I want to trade between altcoins, I don't want to give them my picture holding my ID (something incredibly stupid because this could end up being sold in the dark net to impersonate you) so I tend to search for smaller exchanges like Cryptopia and Livecoin. Even if the volumes aren't good, they don't bother me with a million verifications.
If you want to trade with fiat, I understand it, but if im trading between cryptos, it's stupid that you should give them all of that info, which is what is Bittrex is doing. It has turned into a nazi exchange where you can't do anything without verification. At least with Poloniex it seems you still can do some minor alt trades without much verification other than your name and country, which could be anything since apparently they don't even check it. I've been using an account with fake names and country that I set back in the day because I was poor and didn't even bother, I was just trying to buy 50 bucks worth of BTC. Thus far, they haven't told me anything about it so it seems they don't care.
