John McAfee is one of the most colourful and controversial figures in the whole cryptocurrency space and his promotion of ICOs has become notorious in the sector. Last month he revealed that he was charging $500,000 to promote an ICO… per tweet. And he claims to be worth it. His Twitter account is described by his team as “by far the most influential in the field of cryptocurrency,” and a “single tweet” can bring in “more than a million dollars of investment.”
However, it seems that those days might be over. McAfee tweeted today that due to “SEC threats” he was done with promoting ICOs. What’s more, he suggested that regulators had killed the sector and that “those doing ICOs can all look forward to arrest.” Rather than pursue a model which seems doomed to failure due to regulatory interference, he informed his followers that he was “writing an article on an equivalent alternative to ICOs,” a new model which “the SEC cannot touch.”
Due to SEC threats, I am no longer working with ICOs nor am I recommending them, and those doing ICOs can all look forward to arrest. It is unjust but it is reality. I am writing an article on an equivalent alternative to ICOs which the SEC cannot touch. Please have Patience.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) 19 June 2018
This reversal is particularly surprising as McAfee had previously seemed eager to take the fight to regulators. Just last week he said that he would never submit to the SEC’s stance that ICOs are securities. In fact, he would, “fight with every last breath to ensure that this absurd overreach by the SEC will not stand!”
“All ICOs are Securities”!
.
I will not now, nor will I ever, accept this as a reality. I am submitting, now, to this law, but I will fight with every last breath to ensure that this absurd overreach by the SEC will not stand!! It will not stand!https://t.co/7l2l8pryPh— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) 14 June 2018
Earlier this month he had encouraged his followers to contact the SEC directly and demand that SEC chair Jay Clayton debate him on the issue .
McAfee Predictions and Promotion
McAfee made his name in the crypto space with his bold predictions about the future price of Bitcoin. Last summer he predicted that Bitcoin would be worth $500,000 by the end of 2020. Then, in November, with the market booming, he revised that upwards to $1 million.
When I predicted Bitcoin at $500,000 by the end of 2020, it used a model that predicted $5,000 at the end of 2017. BTC has accelerated much faster than my model assumptions. I now predict Bircoin at $1 million by the end of 2020. I will still eat my dick if wrong. pic.twitter.com/WVx3E71nyD
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) November 29, 2017
His impact on the ICO and altcoin world increased with his “Coin of the Day” picks. Last December he shelved the initiative “due to heavy pressure from crypto adherents, exchanges, developers and every other corner of the earth.” The feature had been widely seen as a causing market turbulence with bots and short term traders engaging in pump-and-dump schemes based on his predictions.
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