Of course, I am not blaming them, but I feel that IEOs should be discouraged for the reasons I gave. Actually I wasn't aware of the IDEX verification stuff, that is terrible. I dont expect major exchanges to make these DEXs, but there are existing ones like Bisq which look promising, even though they are hard to use. But the IDEX situation surely supports my point; even IDEXs are bowing down to regulation even though many of them were built for privacy. All I mean is we need a good DEX otherwise purchasing Bitcoin will be as difficult as purchasing traditional financial assets.
I've read some discussions about the pros and cons of IEOs and one of the cons is what you pointed out. It's true that they will be given more control/power but what can you do when it's the people that wants to give them power.
I'm not sure how long this IEO trend will last after the IDAX IEO scam (faking volume) was exposed though.
Here's the article to IDEX btw
https://medium.com/idex/idex-kyc-transition-period-and-updated-asset-availability-for-us-markets-set-to-begin-d45e945f842d