would you support the argument that the existence of exchanges are among the factors facilitating the popularity and accessibility that people have to bitcoins?
Certainly. At least because exchanges advertise their services, so more people learn about exchanges, so more people learn about cryptocurrencies. The same goes for wallets with built-in exchanges like the new
HitBTC wallet. All these things are pushing cryptocurrencies to the masses, and making them more and more easy to accept.