British software developer John McAfee has always been a larger-than-life figure in cryptocurrency circles. His outspoken advocacy for Bitcoin and other crypto projects over the years has helped put the technology in front of millions of new users. But over the past month, McAfee’s crypto influence has become more measurable – and more monetizable – than ever before.
McAfee’s tweets have often been followed by bumps in a coin’s exchange price, but about a week ago, the investor announced that he would tweet daily about coins he found interesting:
Beginning tomorrow, I will each day talk about a unique altcoin. Most of the 2,000 coins are trash or scams. I've read every white paper. The few I'm connected to I will tell you. The rest I have no position in. These coins will change the world. You can support
that change— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) December 20, 2017
The results have been pretty impressive. His first tweet, on Electroneum, was immediately followed by a sharp spike that nearly doubled the coin’s market cap, peaking just 50 minutes after McAfee’s tweet:
His next tweet, on Burst, had a similar effect. Before McAfee’s tweet, the coin had a market cap of about $47 million. Within a couple hours of McAfee’s mention, it had more than doubled:
McAfee’s subsequent tweets have had the same kinds of effects. On the 23rd, he tweeted about DigiByte; a few hours later its market cap had nearly doubled. On the 24th, he created a similar (and similarly immediate) spike for Reddcoin. On Christmas, it was Humaniq on the receiving end of a McAfee tweet and the subsequent near-100% price increase.
Critics have accused McAfee of using his influence for market manipulation; McAfee maintains that he has no stake in most of the coins he mentions, and says he will disclose it if he does have a stake in a coin he’s pushing. He also has said he’s working on a way of fooling the trading bots that are helping some investors profit effortlessly off the post-tweet bump his mentions inevitably get.
Complaints from the community do seem to be getting to McAfee a bit. He announced today that he’ll reduce his posting frequency from one coin a day to one coin a week, posted each Monday morning.
Even if you dislike McAfee, this “coin of the day” experiment is valuable to almost everybody in the crypto space. Investors can take a look at the data, and may conclude that it makes sense to act on a McAfee Twitter mention – but only if you act quickly enough to catch the pump (which often means buying within the first ten minutes following the tweet, or employing bots).
It’s likely that a lot of investors are now eagerly awaiting next Monday morning to learn about McAfee’s next pick.
Crypto companies can learn a lot from McAfee, too, because his tweets demonstrate quite clearly just how valuable the right marketing can be. Getting your coin on the right side of a high-profile influencer like McAfee can mean doubling its price in an afternoon, almost regardless of the technology behind your blockchain.
