John McAfee is putting himself in the news again, unable to resist an attempt to scam more followers into believing his act. He recently tweeted that he would reveal the “true” identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, implying it is not Dr. Craig Wright, and followed up that boast in an interview with Bloomberg, but without adding any details.
In his tweet, McAfee suggests he will narrow down the possible identity of Satoshi with clues.
The "Who is Satoshi?" Mystery must end! First: It is NOT the CIA nor any agency of any world government. It IS a collection of people, but the white paper was written by one man, who currentky resides in the US. If he does not come forward these narrowings will continue.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) April 17, 2019
In the follow up interview with Bloomberg, McAfee was quoted as saying he would reveal Satoshi’s identity “within a week.” That didn’t last long though, as the article was updated shortly after, and McAfee tweeted that he would be unable to reveal the identity at this time as it may risk him more legal problems with the U.S. government. A very convenient story.
The US extradition request to the Bahamas is imminent. I met with Mario Gray, my extradition lawyer, and it is now clear (read his letter below) that releasing the identity of Satoshi at this time could influence the trial and risk my extradition. I cannot risk that. I'll wait. pic.twitter.com/l8lTjR6fQM
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) April 23, 2019
This isn’t out of the ordinary for McAfee. If he’s good at two things, it’s getting attention for himself and creating a ruckus on twitter. And as a recent article from Decrypt shows, he’s used both those powers to bully and swindle cryptocurrency projects for some time now.
The article lays out a history of McAfee demanding outlandish fees from crypto startups to promote their projects on Twitter. When he quickly forgets that he’s accepted potential millions to do so, relationships turn sour, and the partners on the other end demand their money back.
He also used his platform to announce a laughable attempt to run for President of the United States. He was, admittedly, honest about his intentions though. He never meant to win the presidency, he solely wanted to promote cryptocurrency as a concept, likely to enrich himself more than anything.
That “run” continues, although he’s currently hiding out in the Bahamas to avoid prosecution in the U.S. That same legal threat is why he claims he can’t reveal the identity of Satoshi now.
The common thread here is pretty clear. McAfee has a large following that he uses to enrich himself, but very little of his actions represent an honest desire to improve the industry.
On the other hand, the man he implies isn’t Satoshi, Dr. Craig Wright, is willing to go to court to prove his identity. Wright works with one only one project, Bitcoin SV (BSV), as it is the only project to follow the original Satoshi white paper. Lastly, Wright isn’t in this for the attention, removing himself from Twitter, and only revealing his connection to the pseudonymous name because many demanded it of him.
That shows a very stark contrast between the two men. One is a man of principle, working on a single project to better the world. The other is John McAfee, who might be good for a couple of silly twitter videos, but not much else.
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