I suspect it would have been just as truthful to say, "of course it's gambling. All investment is gambling. But you're not my dad so why should you get to say whether my choices of what to do with my money are good or not?"
The implicit assumption made that the price of Hive will never drop is far more dangerous, in the long term, and letting individuals decide whether they want to take the risk, hedge their bets, or pull out of the market. That's a level of paternalism I suspect that both of us are uncomfortable with.