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.