When you hold bitcoin on an exchange, the exchange holds the private keys. You have an account balance - a record in their database that says they owe you that amount. Legally, you're a depositor, not an owner. In exchange bankruptcy, this has been tested in court. FTX, Celsius, and Mt. Gox customers all discovered that their balances were part of the company's estate, not their personal property. Courts treated them as unsecured creditors. The only way to truly own bitcoin is to hold the private keys yourself. That's not an opinion - that's how the protocol works. If you don't control the keys, someone else controls the bitcoin. Do you know where your bitcoin actually is right now?