Bitcoin "Banks" (read exchanges) exist only through their reputation. They can die within a few days as shown from MtGox. This is the way traditional banks should operate instead of being propped by tax payers so that they are allowed privatize gains and socialize losses.

I think most people are happy with deposit insurance in case their banks fail or are run by crooks.

But that goes hand In hand with allowing crooks to run banks, if regulation works so well there should not be any bad banks so no need for deposit insurance.

"if regulation works so well there should not be any bad banks"

Straw man alert; no one claims bank regulation is perfect or will stop all bank failures.

It was more to point out that with or without regulation there is still risk. Regulation is not the panacea that some people think it is and regulating bitcoin will not make it better, it will just make it more difficult for people to work with it in those areas it is regulated. Plus regulation would barely be worth the paper it was written on as avoiding it would be a simple case of not operating directly within its jurisdiction. If people from that jurisdiction use your service that is their option but the regulations will not protect them so they should make their own plans.

Regulation can work, however it should not absolve users of responsibility for vetting their investments or financial service providers.

Implies that insurance props up crooks, rather than just helping people after the inevitable crooks are discovered.

Banks fail for other reasons than being run by crooks.

Spoken like someone who has never been on the receiving end of someone dishonest. Lucky to be you.

The time between a bad actor starting to fleece people and the market or regulation wiping them out can still be fairly lucrative for the bad actor and fairly damaging for the public.

I'd be even happier if I didn't need a bank at all. Banks suck.

Regulation would have provided that they would have gotten their funds back/in a timely manner.

Lack of regulation means that others learn from their misfortune.

Regulation would have suffocated Bitcoin already in its early days. Regulation comes at a cost. As it eliminates risks, it also eliminates chances.

Even a "perfect" regulatory system can't preempt all potential issues, so one could also say that regulation only comes about due to the misfortune of others. For example, surely a bunch of people died from bad drugs before the FDA existed.

The exchanges we are talking about are not based in the US because it is impossible to create an exchange thanks to regulation.