It really depends on how you approach things. Those two are different kind of investment and will need different kind of approach and they are both risky in its own way. You should research first on what you are tackling. Don't let emotions control your judgement. If I were in your position, I would choose what am I comfortable with.
Yes youre right, the both are risky. But I think investing his money in cryptocurrency will be a lot risky than investing it in a business. Investing in cryptocurrency is not easy and it requires a lot of skills and he might still lose or maybe things wont work out real quick as he might expect. So it will be best for him to start up local business and grow from there. I believe a lot of us here have local business and some of us work in office jobs.