I said to my friend, why don't you put a few hundred into crypto just to see and his reply was, "what is the point, a few hundred is insignificant to me, even with large percentage gains".

So many people are so scared of the sense of failure, they will not make a decision until forced, making the decision not theirs at all - no ownership.

Sounds to me like a classic case of "The Sunk Cost Fallacy" in action.

When we are moved by forces we do not understand, we can feel like victims, but looking back knowing more than we did, we will probably recognize there were better courses of action available, we just weren't ready to see them.

Yeah! I guess a bit of this TSCF virus is what is affecting to your friend right now. :)