Honest question: isn't Tether the exact opposite of what Cryptocurrency stands for?

People bring their USD and deposit in a tether account and in return Tether gives you a token that is backed by the money they are holding. Is there anything that am I missing? Isn't that the same thing that banks do? Tether seems completely centralized and in total control of the money, so how is that decentralized and out of the reach of banks or government? Is there anything that im missing? I is truly a genuine question, not trying to troll anybody , I just fail to understand what is the point to replace a bank for another bank just with a different name.