OK, ignore the "disastrous performance" if you will. There is still the fees, failed promises, and (apparently) having to watch the share value drop without being able to take the money out. Now, remind me, what were the advantages of buying fund shares instead of buying bitcoins directly?
Your mother or grandmother can own Bitcoin without needing to read the forums for three weeks to figure out security.
Not everyone who invests in Bitcoin has a horizon of 60 days to get rich.
Well, seen from the outside, SMBIT is starting to look more risky than buying bitcoins at Bitstamp and keeping them there. At least, Bitstamp has no lock-in period and has a handy open market in-house.
Investors who bought SMBIT shares in September 2013, at 13 $/share, and are firm believers in the long-range success of BTC, may not be bothered by those problems. But I am trying to imagine someone who invested in January at 90$, could have liquidated in July at 60$, but has been forced to hold and now sees the shares worth only 30$. I can't believe that all of those January investors are hold-at-any-cost types.
I wonder if these "problems with the SEC" are blocking withdrawals also from the other funds (PBP, Exante, etc.)