One thing I was wrong about: crypto ETFs would be popular.

For the entire time I worked at Coinbase, the Bitcoin ETF was always "a few months away" and it was going to "eat all the future growth". 

That didn't happen — it took almost a decade to get to ETFs. And during the delay Coinbase and other crypto companies were able to significantly grow.

That said, I do think in 2025, ETFs offer a better out-of-box product for most investors:

1) Works in your existing brokerage account. Ability to get margin if that's important to you. Massively simplifies tax reporting. Easy to buy in IRA.

2) Minimal security risk of having your Bitcoin stolen (via phishing, social engineering, etc.)

The biggest reason you would not want an ETF is if you're hardcore and practice "not your keys, not your coins". But that's not an important factor for most people.

Coinbase, Robinhood and others can definitely get to baseline on the above features, but there are still a bunch of little papercuts to solve.