Many bitcoiners think establishment powers are now in the "and then they join you" phase of the struggle.

I don't. I think they're more entering the earlier "and then they fight you" phase.

Or more specifically, they are happy to join in on the price exposure side (i.e. ETFs), but they are fighting against privacy (especially) and self-custody (to some extent). The struggle for financial privacy, custody, and overall self-autonomy is just heating up.

The gradual shift of critics from "bitcoin is a useless speculative asset with no intrinsic value" to "bitcoin is so powerful that direct usage of it must be curtailed" can be dangerous.