Autumn Radtke: The CEO Who Couldn't Take Any More

CEO of First Meta, one of the earliest crypto-related deaths at age 28.

Autumn Radtke was the 28-year-old CEO of First Meta, a Singapore-based digital assets exchange. In February 2014, she was found dead outside her apartment building. Her death was ruled a suicide.

Radtke had been working in the nascent cryptocurrency industry during one of its most volatile periods. The Mt. Gox exchange was collapsing at the time, sending shockwaves through every crypto business. The pressures of running a startup in an industry that was simultaneously exploding and imploding took a toll that few outsiders understood.

Her death was one of the first to draw attention to the mental health toll of the cryptocurrency industry. The 24/7 nature of crypto markets, the extreme volatility, the isolation of working in a space most people didn't yet understand - these pressures would go on to claim many more lives in the years that followed.

Radtke's family asked for privacy. Her colleagues remembered her as passionate, driven, and deeply committed to building something meaningful in digital assets. She was 28 years old.

If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 (US). Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741. International Association for Suicide Prevention: https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/