This cycle is definitely not taking off as well as previous cycles, but there's still hope.
The theory of diminishing returns is that as the asset gets bigger, it takes more money to make it grow. But, the incoming whales have figured it out how to buy OTC (over the counter), so it doesn't affect the price. Eventually, it's inevitable that the OTC desks will run out of Bitcoin. After that, the price is off to the races!