In what way is holding Bitcoin hard? That's the point of it. It's a store of value that's easy to hold directly.

If you hold it, you own the risk of securing it. If I were a mutual fund, I'd much rather pay a premium to someone with expertise (like an exchange or some agent of the exchange).

I agree but it is ironic, because one of the great strengths of Bitcoin is that, with just a little education and following the right basic procedures, anyone can hold it directly with very little risk. No need the need for any middlemen, custodians or trusted third parties.

But yes I can see that some people/businesses would want to outsource that risk by trusting someone else to do it properly.