I still remember the year 2015, during my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the east part of the country. One of my fellow corps members caught up in the craze of the Ponzi scheme era, sold all his Bitcoin just to invest in one of those schemes. I recall him even offering to sell me some of his Bitcoin in exchange for cash but I refused.
Looking back now the past is truly behind us. We should have invested in Bitcoin instead of falling for Ponzi schemes. The value we overlooked then has now become a lesson for the future.
Many people then came to know Bitcoin through Ponzi Scheme and I'm wondering what Ponzi Scheme your friend participated in when actually MMM was the first one but came around 2016. Anyway, I'm not doubting you but your friend was smart enough to have known Bitcoin so early but no nothing about how it would be today. If I can say, many people had used their Bitcoin careless from the pass and regretting today because of lack of knowledge, lack of patient and incompetent behavior.
Anyway, it's part of the lesson learnt but we can't keep on learning lesson and not correcting them, how many have accumulated so far.