Cryptocurrency evangelist and outsider US presidential candidate John McAfee has waded into the online crypto-wars, ridiculing computer scientist Craig Wright for claiming to be the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto, creator of bitcoin.
Wright publicly claims to be part of the original bitcoin development team, and the face behind the pseudonymous signatory of the bitcoin whitepaper, ‘Satoshi Nakamoto.’ Rumors of Wright’s alter-ego have circulated for years, and the programmer has fuelled those rumors using his personal blog to attack Bitcoin while simultaneously peddling his own cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision (BSV).
The cryptocurrency community is skeptical, with some referring to Wright as “Faketoshi.” In addition, crypto exchange platform Binance delisted BSV on Monday, with a host of smaller exchanges following suit.
McAfee stepped into the ring on Wednesday, Tweeting “Enough is enough! There are at least a dozen crypto adherents who know the true identity of Satoshi. I can assure you, 100%, it is NOT Craig Wright.”
“It's my considered opinion that BSV is using Craig Wright's bogus claim to be Satoshi as a means to fraudulently increase their price,” McAfee added. “God bless @cz_binance for having the courage to delist them!”
McAfee went on to call Wright and his supporters “frauds” and BSV a “scam.” Renegade economist Max Keiser echoed McAfee’s thoughts, accusing entrepreneur Calvin Ayre of “Bitcoin Derangement Syndrome” for sticking by the ‘Wright-is-Satoshi’ theory.
“Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?” is a question that has plagued the crypto world for years. In one online profile, Satoshi claimed to be a man living in Japan and born in 1975. Sharp observers, however, noted his perfect english and suspected that Satoshi may have been born overseas. A host of cryptographers and cryptocurrency pioneers have been suspected, but none proven outright.
Allegedly fleeing IRS persecution, McAfee is currently residing in the Bahamas and has launched a run at the presidency of the United States while “in exile.” An advocate for cryptocurrency, McAfee has made outlandish statements about bitcoin before, promising to ‘eat his own d*ick’ on national television if one BTC is not worth $1 million by 2020.
One BTC is currently worth just over $5,200.
Also on rt.com John McAfee denies paying hitman to kill neighbor, refuses to pay $25mn in wrongful death lawsuitThe 73-year-old was also ordered last month to pay $25 million for allegedly hiring a hitman to torture and kill his former neighbor Gregory Faull in Belize in 2016. McAfee has denied the accusation and true to character, refused to cooperate with the authorities.
Subscribe to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media won’t tell you.