Except there is nothing forcing newbies to sell and lose out. The ones who hold through the dips and crashes and emerge through the other end have exactly the same percentage gains from that cycle as any "whale or veteran", as you put it. In a Ponzi scheme the new investor always loses to the older investor. In bitcoin any user can win or lose over any other user, if timing the market is what you are interested in.

Except all the merchants accepting bitcoin for goods and services, all the users spending bitcoin to buy those goods and services, all the employees receiving some or all of their paycheck in bitcoin, etc. You know, like any other currency.