If you were around in the cryptocurrency space in 2017, you likely remember the antics of John McAfee.
The enigmatic founder of the anti-malware software that shares his name was likely the most outspoken Bitcoin bull back then, even topping Fundstrat’s Tom Lee. While McAfee did shill altcoins — purportedly for a five-figure fee paid to his company — he was ostensibly the most bullish on Bitcoin.
Case in point: McAfee claimed he would eat his manhood on live television if Bitcoin didn’t hit $500,000 by the end of 2020. He later revised that prediction to $1,000,000 — he was that confident. And just months ago, he even tossed around a figure of $2,000,000, citing that he would be sorely “disappointed” in “math” otherwise.
But just like that, he’s reversed from his position, calling the prediction a “ruse” to onboard new users into the cryptocurrency space. To be fair, it seemingly worked; the media couldn’t stop covering this outlandish crypto prediction.
McAfee has gone so far to change his tune that he’s now bashing Bitcoin’s prospects while launching his own cryptocurrency.
Meet “Ghost”
Contents
- 1 Meet “Ghost”
- 2 Model T of Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin
- 3 Crypto Is the Future
McAfee’s latest venture is called “GHOST” token, a “proof of stake privacy coin to help you nothing but a ‘ghost’ when transacting online!”
According to the website — which I must admit I was hesitant to click on — the cryptocurrency will abide by traditional industry standards in that it will purportedly be decentralized, offer fast transactions at low fees, and will have a focus on pseudonymous transactions and privacy.
My latest:
GHOST
It's a proof of stake privacy coin to make you a "ghost" when transacting online!
Atomic swaps on McAfeeDex will let you trade against BTC/BCH/ETH & more!
With a DEX/privacy coin combo we now have full control of our finances!
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) April 11, 2020
The details, unfortunately, were scarce as there is not yet a whitepaper, but the website made claims that it will be using a “state of the art escrow pool to shield and erase the history of transactions,” adding that a system of zero-knowledge proofs is used to verify transactions. This seems somewhat similar to the ZK system that ZCash uses.
While it isn’t clear if there are any formal IPO plans, McAfee did add that there will be atomic swaps on his decentralized exchange startup that will “let you trade [it] against Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and more.”
Model T of Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin
As aforementioned, his decision to launch his own cryptocurrency project comes after he changed his tune on Bitcoin.
After telling Forbes that he’s astronomically bullish on the cryptocurrency as it is absolutely scarce, he said in a surprise tweet that Bitcoin is the “Model T” of the cryptocurrency industry, saying that “newer blockchains have privacy, smart contracts, distributed apps, and more.” McAfee added recently that the cryptocurrency is “worthless,” a full 180-degree reversal from a prediction of millions.
As to what will replace the flagship cryptocurrency, the enigmatic technology entrepreneur pointed to the DAI stablecoin, Ethereum, and Monero, explaining that the latter is “widely used among tens of thousands of us who no longer use banks, credit cards or paper currency.”
Now, it seems that GHOST (should it launch) is joining McAfee’s list.
Crypto Is the Future
A key point to be made with all this is McAfee still thinks cryptocurrencies will be the future of finance, but maybe not in the way that he first portrayed in back in 2017.
For instance, he told commodities news outlet Kitco in an April 2nd interview that he thinks this is the “worst financial havoc” ever, saying:
Every single catastrophe in which food or water or life-giving supplies are in low supply, the human veneer breaks down. And that thin layer of cultured society, human interaction, disappears.
What rises afterward, he said, could be a system predicated on crypto technologies as many grow to distrust the old system.
