Good news!
The fees at GBTC seem excessive and competition will only help both fees to decrease, but also lockups and the premium people were willing to pay to buy GBTC. If the SEC would stop being such luddites, they could resolve the issue quite quickly by just approving the ETF.
The time of ETFs is not here yet. I have been following all the news regarding them since VanEck et al. but as you say the SEC is playing barricades every time. Whatever, bitcoin investing tool are on the rise and loads of money have been poured and will be poured into them. I believe a true bitcoin etf with the seal of approval by the SEC will institutionalize btc for good. It is about the time, I can wait.