{"id":873344,"date":"2025-09-16T01:13:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T06:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/16\/julian-figueroa-lost-14-btc-worth-1-6-million-he-says-millions-of-others-will-make-the-same-mistakes\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T01:13:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T06:13:17","slug":"julian-figueroa-lost-14-btc-worth-1-6-million-he-says-millions-of-others-will-make-the-same-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/16\/julian-figueroa-lost-14-btc-worth-1-6-million-he-says-millions-of-others-will-make-the-same-mistakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Julian Figueroa lost 14 BTC worth $1.6 million: he says millions of others will make the same mistakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoins <\/p>\n

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\"bitcoins Julian Figueroa lost 14 BTC worth $1.6 million: he says millions of others will make the same mistakes<\/span> Christina Comben \u00b7<\/span> 2 days ago<\/span> \u00b7 2 min read<\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

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Julian Figueroa has lost 14 BTC over the years and says that 90% of Bitcoiners will make one of the same three mistakes with their Bitcoin security if they’re not careful.<\/p>\n

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2 min read<\/span><\/p>\n

Updated:<\/span> Sep. 13, 2025 at 2:16 pm UTC<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"bitcoins<\/p>\n

Cover art\/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"bitcoins<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Host of The Exit Manual, Julian Figueroa, has lost<\/a> 14 BTC over the last eight years, worth around $1.6 million today. As if that figure wasn\u2019t bad enough, what\u2019s worse is that \u201c90% of people buying Bitcoin today\u201d are going to make one of the three mistakes in Bitcoin security that cost Figueroa his precious BTC.<\/p>\n

If you aren\u2019t paying attention by now, you should be. Figueroa\u2019s experience highlights a deeper, more sobering reality: the road to financial sovereignty is crowded with pitfalls, and nearly every user will repeat at least one of these hard-learned mistakes about Bitcoin security.<\/p>\n

Bitcoins Bitcoin Security Mistake #1: Day Trading Dreams, Market Realities<\/h2>\n

Figueroa\u2019s biggest regret? Trying to outsmart the cycles by actively trading:<\/p>\n

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\u201cI lost 4 BTC just because I thought I\u2019d buy low and sell high. Turns out, it\u2019s nearly impossible\u2014nobody beats the market over time, not pros, not hedge funds, nobody. If you just buy and hold, you almost always outperform the traders.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The psychological pitfalls of FOMO, misreading tops and bottoms, and emotional fire sales catch even pros in the jaws of volatility. Many lose sight of Bitcoin security when risking coins on risky short-term moves.<\/p>\n

Bitcoins Mistake #2: The Altcoin Trap<\/h2>\n

Figueroa lost another 2 BTC chasing altcoin hype:<\/p>\n

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\u201cI bought coins I thought would outperform Bitcoin. They didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Altcoins offer wild upside stories, but, as Figueroa calls it, \u201caltcoin logic in a suit\u201d often ends up as a distraction.<\/p>\n

Study after study shows most altcoins underperform Bitcoin dramatically in the long run; a hard lesson seasoned by endless \u2018make it, lose it\u2019 stories among crypto\u2019s earliest adopters. Choosing solid Bitcoin security means resisting distractions from speculative alternatives.<\/p>\n

Bitcoins Mistake #3: Self-Custody or Bust<\/h2>\n

Yet, his biggest loss came from keeping coins on centralized exchanges. He says:<\/p>\n

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\u201c8 BTC\u2014nearly $1 million\u2014vanished when an exchange failed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Trusting custodians instead of taking full personal control is the most common error, yet even veterans fall victim to comfort and convenience. The lesson here?<\/p>\n

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\u201cCrypto exchanges are not banks, they\u2019re casinos. Self-custody is the only real security.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Bitcoins You\u2019re Not Alone: Epic Bitcoin Losses from Around the World<\/h2>\n

Figueroa isn\u2019t the first (or the biggest) Bitcoiner to learn these lessons the hard way:<\/p>\n

James Howells accidentally threw away<\/a> a hard drive holding 8,000 BTC, now worth more than $900 million. Stefan Thomas, a programmer, lost access<\/a> to a wallet with 7,002 BTC (worth $777 million) after forgetting his IronKey password. He has only two guesses left before his fortune is gone forever.<\/p>\n

During the infamous Mt. Gox exchange collapse in 2014, over 850,000 BTC were lost or stolen, leaving countless users permanently locked out and sparking industry-wide debates on Bitcoin security.<\/p>\n

When QuadrigaCX\u2019s<\/a> founder died, he took the private keys to over $200 million with him, leaving thousands of users locked out of their funds. The list goes on and on\u2014reminding investors that Bitcoin security starts and ends with personal accountability.<\/p>\n

Figueroa\u2019s story is a living lesson for both newbies and seasoned Bitcoiners alike. So how do you avoid joining the haunted ranks of the 2 million club?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t try to trade \u201cthe bottom or the top.\u201d Long-term holding historically outperforms almost every day-trader; just ask the 99% who\u2019ve tried.<\/p>\n

Ignore the siren song of altcoins promising outsized gains and stick to the fundamentals. And most importantly, hold your own private keys. Learn self-custody and take full responsibility for your digital assets. Because in Bitcoin, \u201cnot your keys, not your coins\u201d is the cold, hard truth. Don\u2019t let your story become another cautionary tale about Bitcoin security.<\/p>\n

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Latest Bitcoin<\/span> Stories<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n
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Christina Comben Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Julian Figueroa lost 14 BTC worth $1.6 million: he says millions of others will make the same mistakes Christina Comben \u00b7 2 days ago \u00b7 2 min read Julian Figueroa has lost 14 BTC over the years and says that 90% of Bitcoiners will make one of the same three mistakes with their Bitcoin security<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":873345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59313,27718],"tags":[11476],"class_list":{"0":"post-873344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-figueroa","8":"category-julian","9":"tag-bitcoins"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}