If you joined in 2012 or 2013 and bought anything except bitcoin you lost virtually all your money. Altcoin pumps lasted maybe 2 weeks maximum per asset. If you didn’t exit the one pump it was over. If you used any exchange, it got hacked, died, scammed and you lost your money. Imagine if every exchange you used until 2018 would FTX you at some point, so you had to dodge every single one. You were programmed over years to not buy new things, especially “IPOs” (pre ICOs) because they never shipped anything and you lost your money. 2017 participants were conditioned to try new things and take risks after being serially rewarded for it. 2014-16 was by far the worst bear market I have experienced, and there was not a lot of previous evidence to give you hope for the future. 2017 onwards had the beginnings of defi. By 2022 bear market it was obvious crypto was here to stay and it was a “when” rather than “if”. Up until ‘16 crypto was seen as dodgy/illegal/drug money, so there was a lot more social pressure/dissuasion from committing your life and time to it. Joining 2016/17 or even 2019 imo were optimal. You got basically the same prices as 13ers on the important assets but without all the ptsd, incorrect and useless conditioning and learnings which is hard to shake, and without 5+ years of fatigue.