In theory, would it be possible to buy and sell crypto without needing to go through an exchange?

I've only been in crypto for a little over two years now, but this is the thing that's stuck with me. The requirement of an exchange will forever prevent crypto from truly being a decentralized currency. The exchanges hold the power and control of who and how they buy and sell crypto.

Germany and the EU are bringing about more stern KYC regulations for 2025, Kraken as an example chose to push their DE customers onto a thirdparty banking firm. The point isn't whether or not Kraken could have done something better, the point is the users are, and will always be, dependent upon the decisions of the exchanges that they use.

If there was a way to buy and sell crypto without an exchange, then the crypto universe would truly be decentralized, and a digital currency environment truly controlled by its participants. Is this even possible, what would this look like?

I mean, at the very birth of BTC, how did people buy it? There were no exchanges back then.