'Does the same value prop still apply to Bitcoin when it is mainly used to settle transactions between large entities like banks, countries, and corporations? In that scenario, don’t we just end up where we started?'

It is even worse than that. Bitcoins use as a P2P payments protocol has been successfully obstructed without overtly banning it.

The sly combination requiring KYC on acquisition, the arbitrary designation as a commodity and thus liable for CG assessment upon every transaction and the threats from banks to debank businesses accepting Bitcoin as a payment all amount to the effective obstruction of Bitcoin as a P2P payments protocol.

The corporate accumulation of Bitcoin is not for use as a MoE/P2P payments protocol- it is expressly for the prevention of that. It is for the definition and use of BTC as a speculative commodity asset plaything held in institutional custody where it is not used for payments of any kind.