A CEX is a wonderful resource if you treat it like a trading platform and not a bank

Lately, centralized exchanges (CEXs) have been getting a lot of very justified hate due to recent platform failures/scams (FTX most notably).

However, for the most part, anyone using FTX would have been completely fine if they hadn't held funds on the exchange, but used FTX purely to buy/sell/trade crypto, then move their coins to their personal wallets. To be clear,.I am not excusing the likely illegal activity conducted by those in charge at FTX.

CEXs are extremely useful and are almost assuredly needed if increased adoption and eventual usage of cryptocurrencies is a primary goal. However, even the most reliable CEXs (e.g. Coinbase) should only be used to facilitate trading, not to store your coins.

It's not complex, but it needs to be stated clearly: CEXs are not inherently the enemy, users that use them improperly (for coin storage rather than transacting coins) are simply exposing themselves to unnecessary risk.

Send your fiat to an exchange. Purchase your crypto. Send your crypto to a personal wallet. That's all it takes to take advantage of the positive aspect of CEXs while avoiding the most severe negative aspects.