Recap: People were excited about Bitcoin back in 2017—the year when the cryptocurrency reached its peak of almost $20,000. Tech legend John McAfee was certainly optimistic about the coin’s future: he promised to eat his d*ck on national television if it didn’t reach $500,000 in three years, eventually changing that prediction to $1 million. It’s now 2020, and Bitcoin is worth around $7,700, but don’t expect to see McAfee consume his genitals anytime soon; he claims the whole thing was just a ruse.
Despite his name being synonymous with one of the world’s leading anti-virus products, most people know McAfee for his exploits outside of tech, such as being the prime suspect in a murder in Belize, his presidential run, and giving his opinion on pretty much everything. But his promise to eat his junk on TV if Bitcoin fails to reach one million dollars by December 31, 2020, has brought plenty of attention.
As noted by the website The Dickening (via TNW), Bitcoin’s price needs to increase around $992,258 this year to reach McAfee’s prediction. That works out at $2,787 per day. Surprisingly, the crypto has experienced equivalent growth surges in the past—in 2011 and 2012/2013, when its price was a lot lower—but it seems McAfee has lost confidence that his claim will come to pass.
In a recent tweet, McAfee said the whole thing was “a ruse to onboard new users. It worked.” Not surprisingly, this has invoked the anger of many Twitter and Reddit users.
Eat my dick in 12 months?
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) January 5, 2020
A ruse to onboard new users. It worked.
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It’s unlikely that many people thought Bitcoin really would hit a million dollars, of course, whether McAfee ever believed it is up for debate, but he does have a history of pulling similar ‘ruses.’ When the FBI was trying to crack the iPhone belonging to San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook—something Apple refused to help with—he said his team of mohawk-sporting super hackers with face tattoos could crack the handset in three weeks. He later admitted that this was a lie to bring more attention to the case.
Find out more about McAfee’s antics in our Drama, Drugs, and Data feature.
https://www.techspot.com/news/83491-john-mcafee-promise-self-mutilate-himself-if-bitcoin.html
