Did you miss the existence of decentralized exchanges?
That's useful if you have crypto, but how do you get into the field in the first place? As long as people aren't being paid in crypto and can't buy and sell things in crypto there is no way to get into the system without going through someone willing to exchange crypto for fiat. And this someone tends to be a centralized exchange.
Yes, you can set your own asking price for crypto --- but the reality is it's unlikely you can sell for significantly more than the "market" price set by centralized exchanges. And good luck finding someone who will sell to you for significantly less.
Most people won't surrender value just for the sake of "decentralization".
No way to steal funds doing that, hmmm....