John McAfee AI token adds surprise chapter to his crypto story

Anyone who was around in the early days of crypto remembers John McAfee. From his political diatribes riddled with conspiracy theories to his insistence that crypto was the future, he embodies some of the independent mania that defined the early crypto industry.And on Jan. 23, an X account of the deceased cybersecurity developer and iconoclast made a surprise announcement that made it seem like he had risen from the grave, or at the very least that his X profile had been hacked.“I’m back with AIntiviris. An AI version of myself. You didn’t think I would miss this cycle did you?” the post said.Blockchain security service PeckShield initially warned that McAfee’s account was hacked but later retracted its statement. “Correction: it has not been compromised,” PeckShield wrote.According to the AI project’s website, the token is a “string of defiance wrapped in cryptographic brilliance” that “represents freedom, privacy and sticking it to the establishment.” The copy sounds like McAfee himself could have written it. An anti-government, pro-crypto conspiracy theorist accused of murder, McAfee played an unforgettable role in blockchain’s frontier years.From viruses to crypto to eating his own d*ckMcAfee started as a computer programmer in the early days of digital computing, bouncing between household-name firms like NASA, Lockheed and Xerox. He released his first antivirus software in 1987.By 1994, he’d made millions and sold his stake in McAfee Associates. The ‘90s and early 2000s were spent on a string of ventures until 2016, when he was appointed chairman of tech holding firm MGT Capital Investments. McAfee shifted the firm’s focus to blockchain tech, which he believed was an important aspect of cybersecurity, before leaving in 2018 to spend all his time on crypto.He quickly became a divisive figure in the crypto industry. During the initial coin offering boom, when hundreds of tokens raised eye-watering valuations and vanished into thin air, McAfee made his bag promoting projects for a hefty fee.The entrepreneur said he charged $105,000 per tweet for promotions. His team even published a guide for how the scheme would work. Some claim that he sought up to 20% of the tokens of any project he promoted.In the age of relatively small market caps and limited liquidity, these kinds of endorsements from big names, even from less-than-reputable eccentrics like McAfee, could send a token price skyrocketing for a time.McAfee didn’t shy away from price predictions, either. In July 2017, he famously said that Bitcoin would hit $500,000 in three years (at the time, it was trading in the low four figures). To add gravitas to his prophecy and show how much he believed in his powers of prediction, McAfee said he would eat his own penis if he were wrong.He later reneged on his promise. McAfee launched his own project in 2019, a supposedly decentralized crypto exchange called McAfee DEX that is now defunct. The platform notably launched McAfee’s WHACKD token, which spread the conspiracy theory that sex offender Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself.Legal troubles, the presidency and life on the high seaEven before McAfee got into crypto, he had numerous run-ins with police (in more than one country) over charges related to unlawful possession of firearms (it’s hard to find a recent picture of him not holding a gun) and even murder.In 2012, police in Belize suspected him of murdering American immigrant Michael Faull. The story, which is recounted in a Netflix documentary that came out after McAfee’s death, involved McAfee evading Belize police and fleeing to Guatemala. He was eventually extradited to the United States.McAfee refused to show up in court when a wrongful death suit was filed against him, and he ended up paying Faull’s estate $25 million. These legal issues didn’t stop McAfee from announcing a bid for president of the United States in June 2018. While it’s now clear that crimes are no impediment to becoming president, perhaps the most unique elements of his campaign were running on a third-party ticket and the fact that, actually, he didn’t want to become president.He told Cointelegraph in November 2018:“I don’t want to be president. I couldn’t be...no one’s going to elect me president, please God.”Instead, he wanted to use the platform of a presidential campaign “to talk about personal freedom and how cryptocurrency can help us achieve that.”Months later, McAfee would join L. Ron Hubbard and Harvey Houtkin in the ranks of American eccentrics who lived at sea to avoid the authorities. From his yacht, he continued his presidential campaign with the help of his wife and select staff, avoiding a supposed grand jury indictment from US tax regulators.McAfee’s time at sea aptly involved arrests on gun possession, reports of narco-fueled bacchanals and, of course, the launch of a cryptocurrency. On April 11, 2020, McAfee tweeted that his new privacy coin Ghost would soon be tradable against other cryptocurrencies via atomic swaps on tMcAfeeDex.“With a DEX/privacy coin combo we now have full control of our finances!” he said.However, McAfee’s campaign didn’t see election day. On Oct. 5, 2020, Spanish police arrested him for tax evasion at the request of the US Department of Justice. Just one day after, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint alleging that he and his bodyguard promoted ICOs and fraudulent crypto “pump-and-dump” schemes. McAfee would spend almost a year in prison, where he frequently was able to get tweets out through his lawyer.Famously, he posted that if he died in prison, it wouldn’t be by his own hand. Seven months later, McAfee was found dead in his cell. On the same day, a Spanish judge ordered his extradition to the US.An official autopsy ruled the death a suicide. Legacy After his death, Professional Capital Management CEO Anthony Pompliano remembered a meeting he had with McAfee.“He was kind, funny, and incredibly intelligent,” Pompliano wrote.“RIP to one of the world’s most unique individuals.”Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson noted McAfee’s contribution to computer science, calling him “one of the most enigmatic and interesting people in the cryptocurrency space and the history of computing.”Hoskinson said, “The reason for the suicide seems self-evident — McAfee was 75 years old, and the extradition to the US was approved, he was looking at over 30 years in jail, if convicted, and likely would have been [...] it seem that he decided to choose ending his life there in a Spanish prison rather than a U.S. prison.”McAfee’s wife, Janice McAfee (the woman pictured right in Pampliano’s tweet), said it was hard to move on after her husband’s death, telling Cointelegraph in November 2023 that she wasn’t allowed to see the autopsy report. She said that because of the charges against him and his lack of an official will and testament, whatever wealth he had left when he died disappeared. For better or weirder or worse, McAfee left his mark on the world. According to his most recent post on X, he’ll leave a few more.