A very insightful summary and I appreciate your extrapolations.
I agree you are safer with ten decentralized exchanges then one shakey hardware wallet.
I think I will take my chances with the later.
You raise a good question; Why haven't Bitcoin and Ethereum developed better wallet security?
Jack Maller, the CEO of Strike says Bitcoin/ Bitcoin Foundation doesn't fund development, and most Bitcoin developers are volunteers or funded by a private companies or individuals and thus lawsuits against them have had a chilling effect on Bitcoin Development. So the development we have seen, is driven by the desires of a few, not the needs of the many. He speculates and I concur that Bitcoin could be much further along developmentally, if it had a planned foundation like Ethereum. But he says such a Foundation, which some say was funded by a Premine and reeks of centralization, is the wrong solution to Bitcoins Development finance problems.
But despite it's Foundation, Ethereum still uses wallets which are from it's date of origin like My Ethereum Wallet, or ones developed by non-Ethereum Fdundation sources. Their focus just seems to be elsewhere, like defi, but I don't know how they continue to ignore the continued rugs, and other thefts on the blockchain. The security of users funds just doesn't seem to be their priority.
I am sad to say that one of the things that attracted me to Steem and Steemit was the wallet security. Because I had lost funds. A frequent happenstance for my early years in crypto was websites where I staked funds just shut down and founders disappearred with hundreds or thousands of peoples staked coins. Cryptocurrency security, it's supposed strong point, was it's inherent weakness when most of the ways to make money involve moving your crypto out of your wallet to someone else's wallet.
In regards to Steem, and now Hive, the fact that I could stake my crypto in my wallet, in my savings account in my wallet and still use this staked form to make money while it was protected multiple ways in my wallet was a game changer for me. I actually sold my Bitcoin for Steem, and later my Steem for Hive. I considered for a time, Bitcoin to be a early form of cryptocurrency and I did not foresee the value it took on with time. But that was my fault for understanding part of Bitcoins story, but not all of it. Bitcoin has a big story, and when you first hear it, it is a bit far fetched, and goes in one ear and out the other. At least it did for me. But time has shown the white paper to be correct about the dollar, taxes, money printing and everything else. bitcoin and cryptocurrency are like a education with multiple classes and multiple exams. It takes a few years to earn your degree and arrive at a point of decent understanding. All the while we are busy, going about our daily lives making a living and contending with lifes challenges.
Hive has it's issues, but security usually isn;t one of them. I am praying I am not jinxing us and no exploit is developed for Keychain or our native wallet.