- Two AIntivirus tokens, Ainti and AINTI, appear to have been promoted by the same person(s).
- John McAfee’s wife claims to be in control of the project.
- Notable security firm PeckShield has claimed John McAfee’s X account is secure.
An artificial intelligence (AI) agent posing as the late antivirus software pioneer, John McAfee, has taken over the tech legend’s X account to seemingly promote a cryptocurrency, AIntivirus (Ainti).
It’s unknown if this is the fault of a hacker or a well-crafted publicity stunt.
However, whilst on-chain data looks terribly suspicious and credible sources claim the opposite, we slide further down the confusing AI rabbit hole.
McAfee’s AIntivirus
Per data from DEX Screener , the Ainti token has achieved a modest market cap of $17.8 million in just over 12 hours of launching.
“AIntivirus – John McAfee is Back. The only official John McAfee token, ran by his wife Janice McAfee,” the token’s profile notes.
However, this doesn’t quite match on-chain data showing that the token was minted on Jan. 6, 2025.
Compounding the confusion, a Pump.fun-created token bearing the exact same branding and name as the latest iteration, AIntivirus (AINTI ), was first minted in November 2024.
As per CoinGecko , the November 2024 AINTI token’s official website is listed as aintivirus.ai—the same as the one promoted by the revived AI McAfee, which also promotes the newly minted, lowercase, Ainti token.
Furthermore, its GoinGecko profile links back to a fake “John” account , which uses the exact same contract address for Ainti as the (presumably) hacked official McAfee account.
It would appear that whoever controls McAfee’s official account is also in control of the fake “John” account, as the latter is evidently linked to both of these tokens.
Wife Claims Control
The whole thing stinks. But the plot thickens as two very credible sources have made public statements claiming that his account is secure and that the project is, perhaps, legitimate.
To begin with, McAfee’s wife Janice posted to X to explain that since his death, she’d been looking for a way to “honor his genius and build on the legacy he left behind.”
She then claims to have taken “creative control” of a product that will achieve this aim, writing:
“It encompasses his core beliefs of freedom, privacy, and technology, while expanding on his passion for crypto and AI.“
Some believe that this confirms the hack even more, as one user points out that Janice spells “honour” as “honor” in her previous X posts.
Others contest the point suggesting an AI may have even written the post, explaining the spelling difference.
However, judging by Janice’s well-written X posts, if an AI created the post, it could imply that her account was compromised.
Security firm PeckShield, however, disagrees. Having initially sounded the alert, it has since corrected itself and now claims John McAfee’s account is secure.
Until further developments occur, the whole thing remains a confusing reminder of just how blurry the line between human and AI interaction in cyberspace has become.
