Most of the current valuation comes from speculative traders. They own monero because they expect the price to go up, not because they care about the underlying technology or actually want to spend it as a currency.
They likely trust the exchange to do a better job than themselves at keeping their XMR secure, want to avoid the fees associated with withdrawing and depositing, want to be able to respond as quickly as possible to price fluctuations, and/or they might not understand the wallets enough to feel safe withdrawing into one.
I think…
Most of the current valuation comes from speculative traders. They own monero because they expect the price to go up, not because they care about the underlying technology or actually want to spend it as a currency.
They likely trust the exchange to do a better job than themselves at keeping their XMR secure, want to avoid the fees associated with withdrawing and depositing, want to be able to respond as quickly as possible to price fluctuations, and/or they might not understand the wallets enough to feel safe withdrawing into one.