> In other words, why does an apparent conflict of interest in "traditional" finance not actually exist for the crypto industry (or at least why we should be okay with it existing).
In traditional finance a "securities exchange" is like, the New York Stock Exchange. A big centralized thing of which there are barely a dozen in the whole country and most people would have trouble to name three. There are many stocks that are only registered on one exchange. That wants to be separated from other functions because otherwise it would become an abusive monopoly.
Nobody has anything like a monopoly on trading Bitcoins so that doesn't really apply.
In traditional finance a "securities exchange" is like, the New York Stock Exchange. A big centralized thing of which there are barely a dozen in the whole country and most people would have trouble to name three. There are many stocks that are only registered on one exchange. That wants to be separated from other functions because otherwise it would become an abusive monopoly.
Nobody has anything like a monopoly on trading Bitcoins so that doesn't really apply.