There are a few people with a couple thousand bitcoin in their wallets which in any laymen defines them as a whale, however I don't think that is the case, with still millions and millions of bitcoin in circulation and mining one bitcoin only getting harder and harder, the power scale will once again tip to the general majority, not that it's in favor of the whales in the first place. Whales only have impact on a coin if its following is filled with daytraders and weakhands. As for bitcoin almost everyone here who owns one knows it's best not to be swayed into whatever bidding the whales call so I don't think they really impede anything.

It is also possible that bitcoin will change the financial sector, or it could remain anonymous, and decentralized. While mass adoption has often been seen as the ultimate goal of crypto, we may instead be planning for a future that allows those who value privacy and security to keep their preferred cryptocurrencies. I don't see any problem here for the government but as we all know that our traditional financial sector will come up with something unique to hinder the adoption.

It is impossible for the system to limit someone from holding a certain amount of Bitcoin. Because this goes against the decentralized concept of Bitcoin. If the system restricts someone from holding a certain amount of Bitcoin, then it is more to the concept of centralization. The purpose of creating Bitcoin is to avoid the centralization that other financial methods use.
In my opinion Bitcoin is one of the projects with very fast and widespread adoption compared to other projects. If we measure the age of Bitcoin, it has only reached 13 years and 11 months, or a week less than 14 years. But now Bitcoin users are spread all over the world. Even some countries have legalized the use of Bitcoin. Other data that we can make as a reference for the widespread use of Bitcoin is the speed at which the number of Bitcoins has been successfully mined. The remaining Bitcoins are less than 2 million Bitcoins. My estimate is that by 2027 all Bitcoin stocks that can be mined will be exhausted, until 2030 at the latest. Other data we can also compare exchanges by country, automatically, the use of Bitcoin will be widespread among the people in the work area of the exchange.

We can't expect every country to come up with regulations that are much supportive to the growth of cryptocurrency. Very few countries are liberal and majority haven't even reached a conclusion whether cryptocurrency usage is legal within the country or not. Adoption of bitcoin is happening good, but the same haven't brought big changes as things get accumulated in a specific region and not spread evenly. Mass adoption can be expected in the long run as it takes much time for bitcoin to  be perfectly positioned as the alternate to traditional financial system.

I think it is important to get our facts straight before making such assessments.

How do you define "bitcoin adoption"?

Let's say 50% of the population owns some satoshis but they only hold them, would you call that adoption? Or... This time it is only the 20% of the population owning bitcoin but this time they are using it actively to purchase stuff.

Which one would you call "real" adoption?

When you can answer this question, you can find your answer of your own question.

They don't shock "the entire system". They shock the Bitcoin market. Learn to differentiate the Bitcoin blockchain from the Bitcoin market.
I actually don't believe that large BTC demand and widespread adoption are coming. Bitcoin cannot become a true global currency, that is being used by billions of people. I think that Bitcoin will remain a volatile financial asset used by risk taking investors to make speculative profits.
The crypto whales didn't cause the current crypto winter. Their ability to manipulate the Bitcoin price had decreased since 2017. I'm sure that at least 90% of all Bitcoin whales want a high Bitcoin price and a bull market, not the opposite.

Your friend is stupid for trusting those self proclaimed Bitcoin expert and you're also stupid by trusting your friends' opinion without doing any research first. It's true rich people and whales will hold huge amount of Bitcoin, but you need to know if Bitcoin price is currently $20,000 and there's a whales want to buy all of Bitcoin, the price of those 18 Million Bitcoin isn't $20,000 because each time he bought the coins, there's a people will not sell it for such price and will offer for higher price.

Which mean either whales are have huge amount Bitcoin or not, it will increase Bitcoin price.

Actually holders of these whales deserve the benefits, because they take a big risk, and there is no need to limit the ownership of each user and Bitcoin holder. And I think it's the market itself that adjusts this imbalance. the real problem of this mass Bitcoin adoption comes from Governments slowing the growth of Bitcoin, and this lack of awareness about Bitcoin knowledge is also a barrier to Bitcoin adoption.

And there is also what happens among the general public, the government spreads negative news about Bitcoin, of course it hinders most people from knowing and learning about Bitcoin, the government plays a very important role in inhibiting the adoption of Bitcoin, but if the government participates in providing positive knowledge to the community, I believe the center of the problem this will be quickly and easily resolved.

Volatility is another reason that scares a lot of people because there are opportunities for those who gain and lose, and nobody likes to lose their hard earned money and this being one part of the problem hindering adoption. And the reason for the volatility, is actually because they don't understand or have any knowledge of bitcoin.
and the main reason is probably still with government regulations and prohibitions, and this is what scares many people especially when they make bad news that is easy to believe because they are leaders of the country who must be obeyed.