The embassy is insisting that although Bitcoin is legal in the country, they cannot accept it as proof of funds. The guy is a little bit frustrated because he is been forced to sell his coin prematurely in other to present the amount they are requesting. The visit is for an important business where he needs to test run and evaluate some equipment he wants to acquire. Taking a loan might not be appropriate since the embassy wants to see the flow of cash and not just a lump sum.
I suspect that countries like El Salvador might accept Bitcoin for such proof. How is the situation in your own country? My country will not accept Bitcoin because the government is anti-crypto.
This is simple unless the embassy want to complicate things, if there is a receipt of what he used to buy the Bitcoin, that's enough. Since he has 10 times of what th embassy are requesting, there is no harm in selling some to get money into his account, the fund can be accepted under investment cash flow and it will definitely be accepted if he submitted his account to the embassy, he can use the money to buy Bitcoin again after reaching his destination.
I can't remember but I remembered El Salvador given some privilege to people owing Bitcoin this year or so, since the country is legally binded with Bitcoin, they should but your friend is going to another destination I think. Perhaps if there is a way of shortcut From El Salvador to your friend destination, you should put a try but I don't think it will be that easy, you will definitely spend.