Will Crypto Guru John McAfee’s Dead Man’s Switch Be Activated?

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Last Updated on 27 June 2021 by CryptoTips.eu

Jeroen Kok

Jeroen is one of the lead copywriters on Cryptotips.eu and discusses all recent events in the crypto market. This includes news updates, but also price analyzes and more. He developed his passion for cryptocurrency during the bull run in 2017. He has learned a lot since then. The combination of cryptocurrency and creative writing is perfect for Jeroen and an excellent way to share his knowledge with a wide audience. Find me on LinkedIn / [email protected]
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In the midst of all hype surrounding Bitcoin’s drop from $64,000 to as low as $28,000 (and then back to $35,000), one would almost forget that the cryptosphere this week lost one of its oldest defenders: John McAfee.

The antivirus software pioneer (he sold his company bearing his own name to California chipmaker Intel, in 2011 for $7.68 billion) had turned eccentric cryptocurrency promoter in the past decade.

In 2017, he forecasted that Bitcoin would one day reach a value of $500,000 and during the 2017-2018 crypto bull run (known as the ICO run), he was seen promoting various coins (not all equally successful).

McAfee had been on the run from US authorities for some time now. His legal troubles spanned from the US to Central America to the Caribbean and were widely covered already. Less than a day after the Spanish National Court ruled in favor of extraditing the 75-year-old, he was found dead in his cell.

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No fault of mine

McAfee’s lawyer in Chicago, Mr Nishay Sanan, confirmed the news, stating:

Confirmation has come from our legal team in Spain that John was found dead in his jail cell. I am saddened to hear of the events and my prayers go out to his wife Janice.

John was and will always be remembered as a fighter. He tried to love this country but the U.S. Government made his existence impossible. They tried to erase him but they failed.

Almost immediately, conspiracy theories surrounding his demise sprung up. Even more so because McAfee himself had hinted multiple times the he would be found dead in a prison cell before he could be transferred to the US.

McAfee had stated in a cryptic tweet that if he was found hanged behind bars like Jeffrey Epstein, suspicion would need to be raised.

He said on 15 October 2020:

I am content in here. I have friends. The food is good. All is well. Know that if I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine.

Furthermore, his wife stated on June 20th, a few days before his death, that the US government wanted to make an example out of him for speaking out against corruption.

She said:

U.S authorities are determined to have John die in prison.

McAfee’s lawyer declared later this week that Spanish authorities have still not given his legal team a cause of death, and the team is trying to find out if there were video cameras in McAfee’s cell or in the prison. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Memphis declined to comment.

Miami and a Dead Man Switch

A rumor abounded on Twitter in the past few days that McAfee, who had always claimed that he owned various documents which proved corruption in the highest US circles, owned an apartment in Miami, more specifically in the building that collapsed.

Glenn Greenwald, the famous journalist who previously interviewed Edward Snowden (the US whistleblower) in his HongKong hotel before he fled to Russia, released a transcript of an old interview, stating:

John McAfee from July 27, 2019, where he emphasizes any suicide would be fake, and describes a “dead-man switch” he created to ensure the release of sensitive documents and a massive database upon his death.

A dead man’s switch refers to a process that is designed to be activated or deactivated if the human operator becomes incapacitated, such as through death, loss of consciousness, or being bodily removed from control. McAfee had always claimed that in case of his death, vast amounts of data would be released. The internet awaits with anxiety to see what happens next.

Photo by Mikkel Bech on Unsplash