To clarify, I don't see users ever leaving centralised exchanges.

That means classic claims like "bitcoin is scarce" or "transactions don't require anyone's permission" or "transactions can't be censored" or "nobody can seize your bitcoin" are generally false in practice.

Even if a person only trades via bags of cash in dark alleyways and never touches exchanges, they're affected by all this "paper" bitcoin.

If they need to touch an exchange at any point, even if holding in a cold wallet 99% of the time, that exchange can still take 100% of their tokens.