I think crypto is the future and is revolutionary; however, as you mentioned, it is also the wild west. Little regulations and lots of risk. There are many very valid coins that have a viable use case, while there are some that seem truly scammy. Dogecoin comes to mind. There has not been any development updates in two years, yet this coin continues to sell.
Ultimately, if someone does their due diligence and takes the time to understand the technology behind the coins they are buying, there is a great potential to gain life altering wealth. I would only caution people to only invest what they would feel comfortable losing. I see far too many people that have borrowed money to dump into crypto and if things go bad, they will be placed in financial ruin.