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It's the "it makes it easier" part that I am debating. Yes buying into a gold ETF is obviously easier because going out and buying physical gold takes more effort. But for a bitcoin ETF you are trading two clicks on one site vs two clicks on another. And in the ETF case you don't actually get to own any Bitcoin. So where's the advantage?

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I believe the argument is that it makes it easier for institutions like fund managers and businesses because they don't need to be concerned with custodianship.

That may have made sense 8 years ago, but the problem has long since been solved. Coinbase can act as a custodian for your Bitcoin. Fidelity has its own service for it, as does every other fund/brokerage/bank of its scale. You can buy it as part of your 401k.

Currently, but recently accounting rules don’t make it very suitable for institutions.

Two click on the other site also doesn't get you to own any Bitcoin (as in, hold the keys).

Neither does an ETF, so I fail to see the line of argument here?

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