Hey everyone,
So I just wanted to give my two cents about McAfee’s crypto advice. Last time I visited McAfee’s advice, it was with HMQ – and I wasn’t impressed. So here I go delving into McAfee’s competency as a cryptocurrency guru:
Why McAfee Is Popular in Crypto
John McAfee has 694,000 followers on Twitter. For reference, Coinbase has 734,000 followers. He’s been shilling ICOs and other kinds of coins as early as summer 2017. He even shilled his own McAfee coin that October :P.
But his claim to fame in the crypto world came when he called Verge (XVG)’s insane 4000 percent pump. He actually shilled XVG as early as September 17, 2017, saying: “I like verge. Having difficulty acquiring it though.”
His notable XVG call was when he said XVG was a good hodl because of its privacy features on December 13, 2017. It doubled in price just two days later. But, what’s even more amazing – as you know, it eventually went up 40 times its price by the end of December.
Since then, McAfee has gained the attention of almost the entire crypto community as a legit cryptoinvesting sage. He’s then started calling his Coins of the Day, which turned into Coins of the Week.
But should we trust McAfee’s advice?
First, Let’s Look at His Background
I, admittedly, would’ve taken McAfee at face and hype value – not looking into his past or background before going in on a coin he recommended. I mean, if everyone says he’s legit, why question, right? Well, after digging into his past, my opinion changed drastically:
McAfee made a lot of money selling magazines while going to college and drinking. He learned about the rudimentary (but then, emerging) technology of computers via coding punch-card systems. This landed him a job at a railroad company where he experimented with LSD. He snorted a whole bag of DMT too, which made him go crazy enough to run away to downtown St. Louis and never return to work ever again.
His next few jobs at software companies found him snorting cocaine and drinking whiskey at his desk – but somehow he made it. He saw that computer viruses were starting to become a thing, and there weren’t any real software out there at the time to stop them – so he started the now well-known McAfee, which became a super success and landed him millions after he sold the company in the early 1990s.
After that, he had nothing more than a series of mediocre or unsuccessful business startups that culminated in him going crazy in Belize while trying to develop an antibiotic. He became super paranoid, thinking people were out to get him – he cut all ties with society and ended up becoming a suspect in his neighbor’s murder. He fled the authorities, ended up captured in Guatemala, where he was extradited back to the U.S..
In 2013, he made a mockery video about McAfee, the company that was his claim to fame, then got arrested for DUI and firearms possession that summer.
A few years later, he tried to run for president, but failed. He then became the CEO of a mysterious cybersecurity company – and he really hadn’t resurfaced until the crypto craze set in.
Knowing All This, Is McAfee a Crypto Guru or Just the Leader of Crypto Investment Cult?
It seems like McAfee was a one-hit wonder in the 90s with his antivirus company. After that, he really hasn’t shown any competency in success.
It seems now he’s set his sights on crypto, and Verge (XVG) is his new claim to fame. After the 40x increase in XVG’s value, McAfee became one of the most revered crypto gurus – but does he deserve the rep? Will he simply lead many people to the slaughter, just like his business ventures post-antivirus?
Now, some say that McAfee was involved in some kind of insider PR monkey business where the notable XVGWhale paid him to shill XVG. Some people even say that Sunerok may have been involved – but this is unlikely. There’s no definite proof besides circumstantial evidence and unauthenticated screenshots, like XVGWhale tweeting about visiting McAfee’s home and numerous Direct Message screenshots of McAfee agreeing to a large sum to shill XVG.
Whether the rumors are true or not – it doesn’t change the fact that XVG went up 4000 percent in price after McAfee called it. Since then, he’s been using his newfound crypto guru status to shill coins on a regular basis.
Let’s revisit these coins on a price-only basis (since that’s what I’m mostly interested in) and see whether they held up to his long-term predictions:
Coin of the Day #1 Electroneum (ETN). McAfee called ETN on December 21, 2017. This coin has a lot of hype besides McAfee. Its price at the time of this post is B0.00001064, which is more than double its price on December 20.
Coin of the Day #2 BURST (BURST). McAfee called BURST on December 22, 2017. Its price at the time of this post is B0.00000512, which is more than 50 percent (approximately) of its price on December 21.
Coin of the Day #3 DigiByte (DGB). McAfee called DGB on December 23, 2017. Its price at the time of this post is B0.00000603, which is more than 75 percent (approximately) of its price on December 22.
Coin of the Day #4 RedCoin (RDD). McAfee called RDD on December 24, 2017. Its price at the time of this post is B0.00000151, which is about 36 percent more than its price on December 23.
Coin of the Day #5 HumanIQ (HMQ). McAfee called HMQ on Christmas 2017. Its price at the time of this post is B0.000031, which is about 33 percent more than its price on December 24.
Coin of the Day #6 TRON (TRX). McAfee called TRX on December 26, 2017. Its price at the time of this post is B0.00000555, which is over twice its value on December 25.
Coin of the Week #1 Factom (FCT). McAfee started calling Coins of the Week because devs, crypto experts, exchanges, and thousands of other people complained hard about his daily coin picks. So instead of stopping, he decided to meet them halfway and do only one coin per week. His first Coin of the Week was FCT on January 1, 2018. At the time of this post (which isn’t too far apart from the time he called the coin), the price of FCT is B0.0043144. The current price is about 35 percent more than its price on December 31, 2017.
Coin of the Week #2 Dogecoin (DOGE). McAfee called DOGE on January 8, 2018. DOGE’s price at the time of this post is B0.00000069, which is actually about 60 percent LESS than its price on January 7, 2018.
Coin of the Week #3 Stellar (XLM). McAfee called XLM on January 15, 2018. XLM’s price at the time of this post is B0.00004329 – and this is one coin I’m pretty willing to bet my life on that it will probably triple in price in a month or two. McAfee called an easy coin this week.
What’s the Bottom Line? McAfee Seems Legit…
I don’t really want to come to this conclusion, but it looks like all of McAfee’s coins, except for DOGE, have stood the test of time. 8 out of 9 coins is a pretty good record – not saying you or I couldn’t do that, but it’s still something. Especially since most of these coins have gone up over 30 percent in the long term.
So forget about his weird history and his abnormal tweet replies – McAfee is probably a safe person to follow when you’re looking for unofficial crypto investment guidance.