Saying "we are still early" is setting yourself up for wildly unrealistic expectations

Saying "we are still early" is a form of confirmation bias and coping mechanism people use when in reality we aren't that early anymore. Bitcoin has a trillion dollar market cap and is the 10th most valuable asset in the world. I wouldn't call that being "early" anymore. Ethereum is #15. Large companies are now buying these assets. The days of 100x your money in a year is basically over. As for the shitcoins that do do that, look at the volume at the start. Barely anyone was trading back then.

Do I think there is still a lot of room for crypto to grow? Yes, but this isn't 2011 anymore. Most people who buy now aren't going to make insane gains and that's just the truth of it. There are 15,000 shitcoins in existence now, back in 2011 there were maybe 5. And the industry just started back then, now it's been around for 12 years. Much different ballgame now than it was back then. I'd say we are somewhere in the middle. Big gains can still be made but don't make the mistake of thinking this is 2011 and expecting a 1000x in one year.