John McAfee Says Privacy Coins Are the Future
John McAfee, who is running his presidential campaign out of Cuba, believes that privacy coins will be the next big thing. | Source: CWJ Crypto World Journal/YouTube
John McAfee, who is running his presidential campaign out of Cuba, is an altcoin believer. He thinks privacy coins will be the next big thing, and you can’t take that away.
Specifically pumping coins in the “medical field” and “privacy coins,” McAfee set off the usual Twitter storm.
John McAfee Promotes No Specific Coin, Not Even Verge
McAfee took the time to clarify to one follower that he had never promoted Verge, which is a rebrand of a coin once called DogeCoinDark.
In the past, McAfee has been somewhat unscrupulous about the coins he’s promoted, including B2G, which was linked to a massive deception that also involved Steven Seagal.
The importance of privacy is a matter of degrees. The more famous you are, the more you wish to transact privately. The higher the risk you are, the more you want private transactions.
But ordinary people, by and large, don’t care.
Traditional blockchain designs are only pseudonymous . With a minimal amount of effort, any government or regulator can figure out a lot by looking at one of the more popular blockchains.
In the thread that unfolded, dozens of altcoins were promoted but none by McAfee. Speaking broadly of “privacy coins,” McAfee refers to a growing category of cryptocurrencies that aim to be private and fast.
Monero is arguably the leader in “privacy coins,” although it holds this trophy tenuously. The emerging field includes numerous contenders and more to come. As people realize the power of blockchains, a growing subset of them will also recognize the power of private blockchains.
Why People Like Privacy Coins
For some, it’s a philosophical issue. Privacy is simply a right.
For others, it’s a business issue. Most large organizations don’t want their every move open to the public.
For still others, it’s just essential. For example, for those who use darknet markets still, buying and selling drugs online, privacy coins are perfect. They enable the user to abstract his identity but retain the value of the coins.
Without that, the whole market doesn’t work. People in those situations increasingly support Monero and other privacy coins. The need for bitcoin is reduced in those respects.
With chains like Monero, it can further be made difficult for exchanges and others to determine the origin of coins. That ultimately makes such chains very useful to people who are transacting with privacy coins out of necessity.
John McAfee himself may be in this boat before long.
The presidential candidate and cryptocurrency enthusiast currently has a comic book character as part of his Twitter profile image. While he has yet to be caught, he is wanted by U.S. authorities in connection with failure to pay taxes.
