Pretty sure the cats still in the bag on this one.
We really need a solid real USD market before the years out. I'm sure not just talking about releasing a website .. It takes months to establish liquidity and eliminate security bugs.
You are right in this one.
The easiest way to start is to be accepted by some major bitcoin exchange that already has the infrastructure and good enough know-how to maintain it. In other words, a trusted exchange.
It surely helps also if Risto (or anyone else his size of stakeholder - I am not that big despite I have a decent position in XMR accumulated over 1 year now) could open the Monero window for larger bitcoin holders who want to start buying Moneros without too much slippage.