John McAfee, creator of McAfee Antivirus and cybersecurity guru, has opinions on cryptocurrency. A lot of people listen - and invest - when he tweets.
The surge in cryptocurrency interest this year has brought many interesting characters to the fore. In the grand tradition of young new money, many crypto pioneers have taken to strutting around the internet full of sound and fury, signifying... well, it varies... as they presumably struggle to squeeze their hyperinflated egos into their brand new Lamborghinis.
In this company, John McAfee is both surrogate grandfather and Grand High Poobah. His money slightly older thanks to decades of success in cybersecurity, his ego better justified for the same reason and his security credentials undisputed, he and his venture MGT Capital Investments have gone all-in on the future of cryptocurrency.
With a little knowledge of McAfee's libertarian instincts this is not difficult to understand. He sees cryptocurrency as the exit strategy from the domination of the state over the individual, removing power from central bankers and liberating his many children and grandchildren from the Orwellian future (and in his eyes, present) he fears and resents. In more practical terms, $MGTI mines $BTC and McAfee sells it - on Twitter, on YouTube and on the news networks that scrabble for his patronage. He is for all his stature rather approachable, appearing as often on small YouTube channels as on CNN and equally respectful of the host on either. He is almost maddeningly likeable even when the entirety of his at times bizarre public presence is considered.
McAfee is unsurprisingly bullish on $BTC, to the extent of making crudely biological bets on it hitting USD $0.5M by 2021 - later doubled down to USD $1M. There are many permutations of forks and upgrades that could see that prediction realised despite the current $BTC's technical limitations on transaction rate and fees, but if anyone would actually go through with that sort of forfeit in case it is not, McAfee is your man.
More recently McAfee seems to be taking a leaf out of Richard Branson's book by exploiting his carefree playboy image to draw attention to technologies, including cryptos, that he sees as tools for his libertarian vision. But while Branson works alongside the structures of government and industry, McAfee sees them as walls to be torn down. This undoubtably appeals to a large section of the market, and those investors flock to trade when McAfee mentions a coin.
His recent initiative of discussing one coin per day on Twitter has led to startling spikes. The recent movements of $XVG and other privacy coins such as $XMR and $BCN can be traced to hype generated by his both specific and general endorsement of privacy as a key issue in second-generation cryptocurrencies. Yesterday's alleged "hack" of his Twitter account resulted in a number of cryptocurrency recommendations rather than the more traditional political or social graffiti; an endorsement of his profile in the market. Leaving aside the issue of a renowned cybersecurity expert being hacked on Twitter - not actually such an indictment on his skills as he is resigned to continuous surveillance and a high profile target - his is an account worth watching.
While clearly invested in the success of the cryptos he backs, John McAfee will continue to be a useful and often entertaining voice in the crypto space.
James
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The author is not a financial advisor and nothing in this post constitutes or is intended as advice. You are responsible for your own investment decisions. Header image courtesy of MGT Capital Investments. The author holds the following cryptos mentioned in this article: $BTC $XVG $XMR