Being able to transfer value across the internet without the permission of a middle man, is valuable in the real world.
Of course, this virtual space is coupled with physical space, by hugely centralized entities called exchanges. To get your money across the border, you need to deal with them. In that case the physical value you can buy with your cryptocurrency comes about from the exchange, not the currency.
Value is a physical thing, not a virtual thing. That’s because we live in the physical, not the virtual world. But we’ll readily delude ourselves into believing that’s not the case.
An exchange is merely a full node with a user interface.
To operate as an exchange there are certain KYC/AML rules they must follow.
Setting up a node takes about 20 minutes and then letting it sync for a couple hours to a day depending on your internet.
You can send crypto with as high or low as a fee as you want...it's just a manipulation of the queueing metric and which transactions miners add to the chain. With exchanges they set that for you.