John McAfee calm on bitcoin crash: 'Relax everyone, cryptocurrency can't be stopped'

Outspoken technology pioneer John McAfee has some words of wisdom for any cryptocurrency investor worried about the recurring crash in value: "Everyone Relax!"

McAfee, who works for a US-headquartered crypto company MGT Capital Investments, is a firm believer in bitcoin, a decentralised digital currency built upon blockchain technology. Despite recent concerns that the bitcoin bubble has burst, he is holding strong.

While travelling to deliver a keynote address at a conference in Thailand, he tweeted Tuesday (16 Jan): "Everyone Relax!

"The crypto dip was caused by Mike Bell of JP Morgan claiming governments could ban cryptocurrencies. Well how? This is the same company that called BTC a fraud.

"It's a bank FFS. They are rightfully terrified of what we are doing. But it can't be stopped."

Cryptocurrency, bitcoin especially, spiked in value over the course of 2017 – rising from $1,000 per coin in January to over $19,000 12 months later.

But on Wednesday (17 January), it dropped to under £10,000 per coin for the first time in months amid rising speculation that China and South Korea were set to ban exchange trading altogether.

At the same time, JP Morgan's Mike Bell hit the headlines after wading into the debate. "I just think that investors should be very cautious looking these cryptocurrencies," he told Bloomberg.

Yet McAfee says that cryptocurrency, despite the turbulence, is here to stay. "I don't know if it will be bitcoin or multiple currencies but there will be a cryptocurrency standard for the world whether governments like it or not," he previously told IBTimes UK.

"And the fact is, it will be difficult to find out where money is flowing from and to, therefore making it difficult to collect taxes - they will have to get used to it.

"There will have to be some other mode of collecting taxes, whether it's a tariff on the use of national parks or the use of the roads – I don't have a clue – that's the government's problem and not mine," he added. "But it's coming and it will change the culture of this world."

Lately, McAfee has been using Twitter to advertise numerous Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) – a way fintech start-ups raise capital - to his 700,000-strong follower base – to some criticism.

He recently shocked everyone by claiming he had used cryptocurrency to pay for hookers, illegal drugs and porn. In late-2017, he said his Twitter account had been hijacked by hackers.