John McAfee, the Bitcoin tycoon who stirred countless waves, wrote a story and myth with his legendary life. He was known worldwide for developing antivirus software, yet at the end of his life, he became a global fugitive, a Bitcoin billionaire, and a target wanted by multiple countries.

In the 1980s, he founded a company and accumulated wealth by giving away products for free. After exiting the business world, he began to live a solitary life: avoiding government surveillance, establishing a private territory, hacking into police networks, evading assassination, and even predicting his own death.

On June 23, 2021, when the Spanish authorities found him dead in prison as they were responding to a U.S. request for extradition on tax evasion charges, he was 75 years old.

John was born in England in 1945 and grew up in Virginia. His father was a violent alcoholic who committed suicide when John was 15. John witnessed his father's body, and there are rumors that he pulled the trigger, but no one has ever been able to prove it.

Regardless, John's intelligence is astonishing. In the 60s, he joined NASA and worked on the Apollo missions. While others were just beginning to learn typing, he was already writing software to help astronauts land on the moon.

In the 1980s, John worked at Lockheed Martin. Although he struggled with alcoholism, he was still ahead of his peers in the tech field. In 1986, when the world's first computer virus called "Brain" began to spread, John worked hard at home to crack it and developed a tool to eliminate the virus.

The software known as McAfee Antivirus is provided for free, and John believes the company would be willing to pay for continued use. By the early 90s, 67% of large corporations worldwide were using it, paying millions of dollars. At 47, John was already a millionaire, making the rich list, with a net worth of 100 million dollars. However, after leaving the company in 1994, he vanished without a trace from the business world.

John used his accumulated wealth to purchase real estate, luxury cars, and a helicopter for commuting, relocating to Belize, where he established a private estate guarded by retired military personnel, equipped with a surveillance network and a private laboratory. From his personal perspective, those in power were always hunting him down, and this paranoia led him to hack into the police radio system, monitor government offices, and create a system to surveil everyone.

By the mid-2000s, the locals in Belize began to fear him, and rumors spread—John might be experimenting with drugs, weapons, or even involved in human trafficking. Later, his neighbor was shot in the head, and John became the prime suspect. He fled and lived with a girlfriend who had once planned to assassinate him; ultimately, the girlfriend became infatuated with him and ran away with him.

During his escape, John sent free laptops embedded with spyware to government officials. He claimed to have hacked into multiple government systems, including Hillary Clinton's office, and stated that the information he possessed could overthrow the power structure.

In 2012, Guatemalan police arrested him, and he pretended to have a heart attack to skillfully delay time, then successfully escaped. When asked why he ran away, John said, "If they catch me, I will be killed."

John has amassed wealth once again by taking advantage of the gradually expanding Bitcoin market. He supports crypto projects, speculates on tokens, and posts continuously on Twitter. He claims to be a Bitcoin billionaire and states: "I haven't paid taxes for 10 years because I've blackmailed the U.S. government."

He also ventured into politics, running for President of the United States as a Libertarian in 2016 and 2020. His campaign focused on ending government surveillance, legalizing drugs, and terminating what he calls the "War on Freedom." His slogan is: "Privacy is Freedom."

By 2019, U.S. authorities had filed federal charges against him for tax fraud. He refused to appear in court and instead filmed videos aboard a yacht in the Caribbean, surrounded by prostitutes and armed bodyguards, mocking the government and refusing to cooperate. Faced with wanted notices from the U.S., Guatemala, and Belize, he showed no concern.

In 2021, he was arrested by the Spanish police. If extradited to the United States, he faced over 30 years in prison. As a result, he was found hanged in his cell. However, John had tweeted before his death: "If I hang myself, it is not what I want." Additionally, he had a tattoo that read "$WHACKD". After his death, Instagram also updated a black "Q" photo, alluding to QAnon, leading some people to still believe he faked his own death.

John not only created products, but also legends. His life was filled with surveillance, paranoia, cryptocurrency, and a series of news gimmicks. In 1994, he also founded Tribal Voice, which launched one of the world's first instant messaging platforms – PowWow.

By August 2009, John's net worth had plummeted from 100 million dollars to 4 million dollars, becoming an unfortunate victim of investment failures due to the financial storm. However, in 2016, he became the CEO of MGT Capital Investments, a technology holding company.

The original plan was to rename it to John McAfee Global Technologies, but due to trademark issues, it had to shift to the cybersecurity field. John once stated, "Antivirus software is dead and no longer effective," and launched a new product called Sentinel, aimed at preventing hacker attacks.

Soon after, John claimed that his team had discovered a vulnerability in the Android system that could read encrypted WhatsApp messages. When Gizmodo pointed out his involvement in distributing phones with malware, John replied, "Of course, there is malware in the phones. As for how the malware got in, that's a story we will reveal after speaking with Google, which involves serious flaws in the Android architecture."

Subsequently, John gradually shifted MGT towards Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining in order to earn profits and accumulate experience in blockchain technology. In August 2017, he resigned as CEO and took on the role of "Chief Cybersecurity Visionary Officer."

In January 2018, he completely distanced himself from the company, expressing a desire to focus on the development of cryptocurrencies. MGT, on the other hand, claimed it was the investors who pressured him to separate from them. On August 13, 2018, John became the CEO of Luxcore, a company dedicated to enterprise-level crypto products.

In July 2017, John boldly predicted once again. He tweeted that Bitcoin would rise to $500,000 within three years. Then, in 2019, he raised the expected value to reach $1,000,000 by the end of 2020. He also said that if it didn't happen, he would eat his "lifeline" on television. However, in January 2020, John tweeted that this prediction was purely fictitious. He called it a "trick to guide new users" and stated that Bitcoin "has become an old technology."

He claimed: "I fully understand Bitcoin. In 2016, I was the sixth largest Bitcoin miner in the world while managing MGTi. If you think Bitcoin has value, then you really know nothing." – John McAfee

And so, John spent his life creating, running, hacking, and tweeting in turn. The story does not end with the companies related to his name; it is also written on the bodies left behind in Spanish prisons and on cautionary tattoos. Whether he has passed or not, John changed the public's perception of privacy, surveillance, and cryptocurrency. He won enemies, millions in assets, headlines, and a chaotic life, exactly as he wished.

Years have passed, almost four years after his death, whether he truly left this world or not, Trump has returned to power, digital currency remains strong, and McAfee's name continues to emerge. Some choose to fade away from the world, while others turn themselves into legends. Ah, John's Twitter account is still active. On March 18 and 21, 2025, it even released new content.

Disclaimer: For informational purposes only. Past performance does not guarantee future results.