Patrick Shyu
TechLead's Million Token Scam
Patrick Shyu built a YouTube following as "TechLead," a former Google and Facebook engineer who dispensed advice on tech careers and Silicon Valley culture with a dry, sardonic delivery. His persona was the jaded insider who had seen behind the curtain of Big Tech and could share the unvarnished truth. That credibility, earned through hundreds of videos, became the foundation for one of the most well-documented influencer crypto schemes: Million Token.
Million Token was presented with an air of technical legitimacy. Shyu, leveraging his engineering credentials, launched it as a cryptocurrency with a supposedly guaranteed floor price of one dollar, backed by his personal commitment to buy at that level. The guarantee gave buyers a sense of safety -- even if the token declined, they could never lose more than their initial investment, or so the pitch implied. On the strength of Shyu's promotion and the perceived safety net, the token surged to over thirty dollars. Buyers piled in, believing they were buying into a project with a credible founder and a price floor that limited their downside.
Coffeezilla's investigation revealed that on-chain data showed Shyu selling significant quantities of his token holdings while continuing to post promotional content. The "guaranteed floor" was criticized as practically unenforceable — Shyu had no binding legal obligation to honor it, and critics argued the guarantee was structured in a way that could not realistically be executed at scale. Shyu disputed the characterization of his actions as a pump and dump, arguing that selling some tokens was legitimate and that the floor price offer was genuine.
Following the exposure, Shyu threatened legal action against Coffeezilla and other critics, and filed DMCA takedowns against some critical content. A class action lawsuit was subsequently filed against him alleging fraud and securities violations. Shyu maintained that the legal actions were defensive responses to what he characterized as misleading coverage. The class action remained in proceedings as of 2024. Shyu continued producing content on his YouTube channel following the controversy.