If it wasn't for evil governments regulating everything to death, then there would be dozens of exchanges all over the world, if not hundreds, simply exchanging fiat currencies for crypto currencies with no questions asked. The way it should be.
You could probably walk into a bank, a post office or various types of businesses and shops, and freely exchange your cash for other bearer instruments like gold, foreign exchange or BTC. Banks would offer BTC accounts just like European banks offer FX accounts for everyone. A few mouseclicks would be enough to convert some USD into BTC, in your bank's online banking interface.
Can you imagine? No risk of getting scammed by unknown counterparties and excellent rates! That is free market; what we have today is a nightmare created by cancerous bureaucracies. Scammers reign freely while honest traders are arrested.
A reasonable limit such as $10K for cash transactions, would not be a hindrance at all. What we have today is not due to the prevention of money laundering but due to cancerous bureaucracies, trying to thrive and grow by sucking the lifeblood out of the real world.
Would Gox exist in such a free market? Maybe. Maybe they would not survive the competition.
To the people, it would not matter.
Gox is a government victim, and free trade is a victim.
WE ARE THE VICTIMS EVEN WITHOUT A GOX ACCOUNT.