I see it the opposite way to Balaji. I think it's the set up for a 6102. They create this paper and say "see, you can hold it here. It's regulatory sound, tax efficient, and no need to mess about with complex nerdy stuff". Then they turn around and say, "well no need for self hosted wallets now. What are you, some kind of terrorist!?". And then they outlaw self custody and demand all coins are handed to exchanges in exchange for paper claims. Eventually there will be a "national emergency", and the paper claims will not be honored. I.e. exactly what happened with gold. History is not going backwards, imo, it's repeating itself.

Best thing about this article are the links to references about 6102 and related cultural responses to it. Super interesting.

ETFs enable a future where an EO6102B could be applied with considerable force and effect because they concentrate custody of Bitcoin into the hands of a few US domiciled institutions which could be forced to co-operate with such an order. In fact those operating the ETFs would benefit from such an order as it would serve to preserve their dominance under the dollar fiat standard system. ETFs are the fiat banksters Trojan Horse and they are now accumulating at a rate to control most of the supply within a decade.

I could be wrong, but now that bitcoin ETFs are a thing will it be easier for people to short bitcoin? I mean if you are a Wall St. guy you can now short bitcoin through the ETFs without resorting to some obscure crypto exchange, right?

Nice read