But more generally, I think people who are first at something are nearly always ridiculed
Precisely. Those who are now celebrated for changing the world, were laughed at and got told they couldn't.
I am not even sure what rich is anymore, because so much of it depends on crypto for me, but rich tends to be calculated in fiat.
Yeah I'm the same. Hence I qualified that with crypto rich. At the same time, I wonder if in the future this distinction will matter. If enough places start accepting crypto, I will (and I imagine many people) will just stay in crypto most of the time. Ah.... the dream.