McAfee Abandons Plan to Out Bitcoin Creator Satoshi

Published on [DATE] by Cryptovest Staff

Citing the risk of extradition to the US, John McAfee backs out of revealing the real identity of Bitcoin’s creator.

John McAfee has backed out of his plan to reveal the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, stating that such a move may exacerbate the situation he faces with potential extradition to the United States.

https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/1120803594041688069

McAfee claimed he will not be outing Nakamoto for now, as advised by his lawyer, but skeptics believe he never knew the identity to begin with. Right now, McAfee resides in the Bahamas, potentially facing extradition to the USA, as he is a person of interest in relation to a murder in Belize.

In the past, McAfee has been known for flamboyant statements regarding Bitcoin, including a bet that the price would reach $1 million by 2020. His recent statement about revealing the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto drew a lot of attention from the crypto community.

Any communication from Nakamoto would be huge news for Bitcoin and the competing networks, as the discussion about scaling and changes have produced disagreement and splits.

Meanwhile, as McAfee announced his decision to out Nakamoto’s identity, he received various letters from impersonators, claiming to be the creators of Bitcoin. Some of his followers also asked McAfee not to reveal the identity of people who clearly wish to remain anonymous.

In the case that Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity is revealed, the person or persons could become targets, not only for governmental and law enforcement agencies but also bad actors eyeing the BTC reserve owned by them, worth over $1 billion by current prices.