First of all I am the only person in my area who has a basic understanding of Bitcoin. That is, in the region where I live, no one but me knows about Bitcoin.
I am not so sure about this but I wouldn't disagree because I don't know your area. But then until you have done a survey to measure the knowledge of bitcoin among people living in your area, I don't think you can categorically say that you are the only person in your area with a basic understanding about bitcoin.
The maximum number of friends I hang out with are unemployed. They are not uneducated they are all well educated in their respective positions but due to lack of adequate facilities they are unable to find any employment. When we walk together I talk to them about Bitcoin but they tell me that they have only heard about Bitcoin on various social media and they think that if anyone is involved in Bitcoin, the administration of our country will arrest them. Because it is through this kind of news that they are aware of Bitcoin. But when I tell them that I have a rough understanding of Bitcoin. Then they don't want to believe me when I tell them all about bitcoin they believe me. And I assure them if we all get involved in Bitcoin maybe our unemployment will go away. Because there are enough ways to earn money with Bitcoin.
I have found that in my layman's thinking that there may be a correlation between bitcoin, unemployment among educated people and their willingness to invest in bitcoin. Folks who are employed may be too engrossed in their jobs to even think about bitcoin unless whatever their job is revolves around tech, economy and entrepreneurship.
It is a pity that your friend's first knowledge about bitcoin is as a negative portrayal by the government. Sadly, it is not exclusive to just them alone. Some of us heard about bitcoin when US government seized some bitcoins in silk trade or there about. Furthermore, you do not have to persuade them to invest in bitcoin. Present it as a choice: Stay unemployed or take the risk that has the potential to give you money. Then allow them pick.
Out of all my friends two of my friends have some savings and when I told them about the investment they became very interested in investing but I didn't tell them only the positive aspects of the investment I told them the negative aspects. And I know the rest of my friends would also be interested in learning about Bitcoin but I just don't know how to start teaching them about it. Because bitcoin crypto currency is completely illegal in my country. So how can I help my friends in this regard?
Hope you guys can give me proper feedback on this and help me move forward in helping them.
Since your friends won't do any transactions in bitcoin other than hodling it in a cold storage wallet, they should be fine. Tell them that. You should also provide them with books and videos for them to improve their knowledge about bitcoin.