The relatively little money (and little experience with startups) that most retail investors have would not be enough to diversify their risk and thus be equivalent to gambling. I think the figure is 5% of startups are successful?

Anyone who has become wealthy through crypto became so because they gambled. And, bitcoin has a history of being manipulated. I had a friend who was part of a network that communicated to him when to buy and sell bitcoin. He mentioned "the whales" a few times when talking about it.