Patrick Shyu, former Head of Architecture for the YouTube App at Google, announced on social media that he has sold all his Bitcoin holdings, incurring severe financial losses. In his post, Shyu revealed that Bitcoin fell from $120,000 in October last year to just over $60,000 this summer—a decline of approximately 50%. He stated that no amount of preparation could have prepared him for the psychological impact of such a market move, especially when using leverage.
“My leverage was too high. A single small mistake led to devastating consequences,” Shyu wrote. The tweet quickly drew attention from the crypto community, serving as a stark reminder of the dangers of overleveraged trading. Even with his technical background at Google, the extreme volatility and his own leverage amplified his losses to a catastrophic level.