Will the exchanges control Ethereum’s destiny?

I get the impression that exchanges will be the top validators for Ethereum. Through weasel words in their terms of service they could potentially stake their users ETH.

These validators could then be coerced via lawsuits or other means to act in a manner that goes against the Ethos of a censorship resistant cryptocurrency.

https://www.tronweekly.com/ethereum-merge-talk-of-the-town/

What are the potential ramifications of moving over to proof of stake? Censorship resistance should be an important attribute. Decentralization should be an important attribute. Will Ethereum sacrifice this for "Number go up"?