The discussion you had with your friend on Bitcoin and crypto is balanced, actually down-to-earth. You mention the volatility and risks around Bitcoin yet point out education and proper judgment; that indeed is a sign of information. It is good to be honest about the state of cryptocurrencies since indeed those are well-known for being volatile. You help paint a correct picture of investment by explaining risks and the need for rational decisions without being openly promotional about Bitcoin. This approach not only will help you meet your friend's expectations but also manifest that you are serious and situation-conscious. If interested, it opens up your willingness to read further and leads into an informed, thoughtful crypto conversation.
Volatility is just one of the possible risks for this asset and especially for a beginner at first it can become an insurmountable obstacle if he has to face a big correction. Yesterday before going to bed I saw a video about investment recommendations and there the person very competently talked about risky assets and what part of the portfolio should be occupied by risky assets. Mainly he talked about bonds, stocks, real estate and other assets, their profitability is not as high as that of bitcoin, but the risks are lower, so we must determine how much we are willing to risk ourselves, in such decisions you can not trust other people, and if there are doubts about some asset, it is better to exclude it until you fully study it.
Many people think that bitcoin is risky because of its high volatility and if one understands its volatility, investing in bitcoin is almost risk-free. That is a misconception, bitcoin has a lot of potential risks that we need to be concerned about. Risks like legality and popularity, it is not globally recognized yet and can be banned at any time. Not to mention it is just a virtual asset based on the internet and storing it can sometimes be considered convenient but potentially risky if the user does not have basic knowledge of security...Overall, investing in bitcoin is not as safe as we think.
I still stand by my view on bitcoin, high return high risk, low return low risk. No asset can give high return low risk including bitcoin.