This is all true but it's a different point to the one I'm making.

Absolutely physical theft of gold is much easier than Bitcoin theft, and in the past governments have confiscated (stolen) gold from their citizens.

You correctly point out that if you setup your non-custodial wallet correctly, there's no way for the state to even know how much you have (assuming you use non-KYC exchanges) let alone tax it or take it from you unless you willingly submit.

Which comes back around to highlighting the importance of self-custody. Because if it's in an ETF or an exchange it isn't really there, it's an IOU that can be digitally frozen at the click of a button.