Did Autumn Radtke, Bitcoin Businesswoman, Really Commit Suicide?
Autumn Radtke, CEO of Bitcoin start-up First Meta, was found dead in her apartment in Singapore.
Some sources say that the 28-year-old American entrepreneur may have taken her own life possibly as a response to the crises Bitcoin has been facing for the past weeks.
Singaporean officials haven’t released an official cause of death for Radtke, according to ABC News.
Before she got involved with Bitcoin, Autumn Radtke was a consultant for Virgin Charter and director of business development for gamer messaging app XFire.
Radtke also volunteered for non-profit organization The Global Summit.
While many who follow Autumn Radtke’s case have already dismissed her death as suicide, some are skeptical of these rash conclusions.
One of them is Will Oremus, tech writer for Slate, who thinks that instantly dismissing Radtke’s death as suicide is unfair to her family and friends.
Oremus criticized headlines of major news agencies immediately concluding that Autumn Radtke took her own life over the Bitcoin dilemma.
He added that even if Radtke did commit suicide, it would be difficult to assume that it was directly because of Bitcoin’s problems, noting that suicide is rarely caused by one single event.
Aside from Bitcoin, First Meta also trades other virtual currencies like Linden dollars, the digital money used in the online simulation game Second Life. They also offer account balance inquiries for frequent-flyer miles of different airlines like Qatar Airways and American Airlines.
Bitcoin has undeniably been suffering from major problems since the beginning of the year, many of which occurred just last month. Bitcoin suffered a massive crash early February, causing its value to sink to the ground.
A few weeks later, it was confirmed that hackers were able to steal $350 million dollars worth of Bitcoin using botnets that circulate around the net and steal login credentials from bitcoin account holders. A recent report by the Inquisitr confirmed that some cracked versions of Angry Birds and other popular apps are reported to be infected with a trojan that steals Bitcoin from their users.
However, as Oremus said, Autumn Radtke’s death may have nothing to do with Bitcoin’s seemingly imminent downfall.
Many agree that regardless of the cause of her death, Autumn Radtke and her family should be given the proper respect and privacy they deserve.
Those close to Autumn Radtke see her not as a face of Bitcoin’s troubles, but as an inspiration, especially to women who are eager in entering the male-dominated industry of technology.
[Image from Twitter]
