John McAfee – a longtime bitcoin bull and the creator of a popular anti-virus software program that shares his last name – has died in prison.
John McAfee Has Taken His Own Life
McAfee had been arrested last October and was presently awaiting extradition to the United States while serving time in Barcelona, Spain. His lawyer says that McAfee took his own life by hanging. He had been charged with tax evasion after claiming that the practice of tax collection was illegal and that he had not filed returns since 2010.
To bitcoin fans, McAfee will always be remembered for his bet that bitcoin would potentially reach a price of $1 million by the year 2020. McAfee said on various occasions that he would “eat his own d*ck” if this did not happen. Ultimately, bitcoin did not reach this number last year, though the bull run it was on made some think it was possible. McAfee later claimed that he never meant for this prediction to be taken seriously.
Throughout the years, the anti-virus mogul had long held a solid presence in the bitcoin and crypto space, though some of his ventures came with a hefty amount of criticism. His invention Ghost Coin, for example, was welcomed by rather mixed reactions when it first debuted last summer, while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) later announced they were filing charges against the computer mastermind for allegedly touting a phony crypto project that saw several investors lose funds.
In addition, McAfee was always there to heighten the many mysteries hidden inside the crypto world. He had often said that he knew the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym of the alleged creator of bitcoin. Furthermore, he was quick to take stiff jabs at Justin Sun, the CEO of TRON for overhyping a lunch he had scheduled with Warren Buffett, the CEO of real estate firm Berkshire Hathaway and a longtime bitcoin cynic.
McAfee had also, on two separate occasions, thrown himself into the presidential mix and announced his intentions to run as a libertarian candidate in both 2016 and 2020 for the White House. McAfee did not receive the party nomination in either year despite stating in 2020 that he was looking to run his campaign in exile while living in communist Cuba.
McAfee was also quick to put down Libra, the official cryptocurrency of Facebook that has yet to materialize despite being announced summer two years ago.
A Final Message for His Followers?
In a tweet before his death, McAfee stated the following:
The US believes I have hidden crypto. I wish I did, but it has dissolved through the many hands of Team McAfee (your belief is not required), and my remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association. I have nothing, yet I regret nothing.
Source: Read Full Article