If we DEPLETE the exchanges of bitcoin, we are FORCING them to stay honest. As it is right now, they can very easily suppress the price by selling paper bitcoin. Let me explain.

First of all, if you think the people running exchanges are honest and ethical, then there is no hope for you. They could be, but they also couldn't. Stop blindly trusting these people.

Now, let me explain.

How does having a big balance allow them to sell paper bitcoin?

If they have a lot of bitcoin then they can very easily sell fake bitcoin with little risk. For example, if they have 500,000 BTC, they can sell an additional 1,000,000 fake coins knowing that as long as no more than 33% of users withdraw their money, they can get away with it.

Now suppose they only have 10,000 BTC. They can no longer sell 1 million fake coins because people would not be able to withdraw to their wallets.

How does selling paper bitcoin suppress price?

Suppose you have 3 gold coins and I offer to buy them from you. You refuse because this is all you have and you're saving them for the future. You're not willing to sell them at the current gold price of $1784. This puts upward pressure on the price. I need to bid higher if I want to buy them from you.

Now imagine you have the ability to create fake gold coins without me knowing the difference. You can create 100 coins out of thin air. Now you don't give a shit, you can sell me some coins even at a cheaper price, because they cost you nothing. You can continue to sell these coins at low prices, putting downward pressure on the price.

There are many other factors determining the price of bitcoin (trading, longs, shorts, derivatives, arbitrage), but the basics of supply and demand are behind all of it.

By taking bitcoin into self custody, we take power away from the exchanges and "finance" guys.

Have you already withdrawn your bitcoin from exchanges?

If you don't know how, start here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/z41qn2/how_to_take_your_bitcoin_off_exchanges_step_by/

Let's drain them all out.

Leaving your bitcoin on exchanges is complete and utter nonsense.

Peace.