Bitcoin could have been a currency, a store of value, a counter-cyclical hedge, a growth story, an investment, a great trade, etc.
As it has turned out it did grow and early holders made a lot. Now it's just an OK trade if done right and that will decline over time.
The whales enabled some stability for a while because the market was too illiquid for them to sell so they held on, thus providing some stability.
Now, the market is large enough for them to sell and that's what they are doing.
Gold and stable coins have taken over the store of value, dollar debasement and currency use cases.
Bitcoin has just been a trade platform for a while now but much of the public still thought that there was massive growth ahead due to mass adoption, so they "believed" and bought.
That didn't happen so now all you can say is that Bitcoin will probably trade from $40k to $140k. If you managed to buy at the bottom, you might be able to triple your money.
You can double it with QQQ in about the same time period, with much less risk.
However, once everyone fully realizes that this is all that is going on, people will quit buying above $40k-$50k because it's too predictable.
At that point, Bitcoin just becomes another "gold" for the younger crowd (not that they ever were gold holders in the first place).