The operative words you provide are "believe" and HODLR. Kind of worked for Gamestop, too, but the period was short.

In some pure sense, beliefs unrelated to any empirical facts can be described as having logic and reason. For instance, if you believe in an afterlife then the logic of following whatever was prescribed for getting it can be logical and thereby say you operated with reason. But if you can't point to anyone who has been there and provided evidence for it, then it all falls apart. And that is like crypto: it is all belief and no evidence except more believers.

I do not select an investment because others say I should HODL or simply believe and that will work in any rational fashion. Instead, I will need to understand where the value of the thing derives. And I need to understand the construction of that value empirically and what the risks are.

To me, crypto is like a religion. Value derives from belief. But, of course, if I had bet on Jim Jones' and the future of his believers, I wouldn't have done so well. And if I had bet on that guy Jesus, well, there was an awful long HODL. But you're right. In retrospect it may have been a good bet...depending on when and where. But no why.