American entrepreneur and vocal crypto advocate John McAfee has launched a polemical meme cryptocurrency dubbed “WHACKD.”
The token’s full rubric — “Epstein Didn’t Kill Himself” — was revealed in McAfee’s Nov. 11 Twitter announcement on Nov. 11.
A dead billionaire, the former first lady… and pizza
The image used to advertise WHACKD — a portrait of Hillary Clinton with eyes fixed cravenly on a pair of dangling feet, as she clutches a slice of pizza — point to McAfee’s conspiratorial take on the death of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein this August.
While an autopsy of Epstein’s death concluded that he had committed suicide in prison, the case has since become shrouded in controversies. The billionaire had been arrested in July on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges pertaining to the alleged abuse of hundreds of young girls.
Since he was found dead at the New York Metropolitan correctional center on Aug. 10 — having been briefly under, and then removed from, suicide watch — the deceased’s lawyers have said they are not satisfied with the handling of the autopsy.
The billionaire’s web of relationships with President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Britain’s Prince Andrew — and questions surrounding how far his alleged abuses would have been known to them — have provided fertile soil for a host of conspiracy theories and online memes to take root.
McAfee — who has repeatedly voiced his skepticism as to the suicide line — told reporters earlier this week:
“The man was six-foot-one, he hung himself from a bed that was only five-foot-seven in a manner that managed to break his neck in multiple places similar to someone being physically strangled. His cellmate was taken from his cell six hours before his death, the video cameras were off and the guards in that cell block were sent home early due to cleaning.”
“You add all that stuff up, and I don’t see how a suicide is possible,” he added.
WHACKD’s protocol design
McAfee’s WHACKD asset is a “deflationary” ECR20 (Ethereum-based) token and will reportedly be issued via airdrop on Friday, Nov. 15, with an immediate listing on McAfee’s decentralized cryptocurrency exchange.
The ad hints at a distinct protocol design, indicating that “10% of all transactions will be burned (WHACKD!) + 1 out of 1000 transactions will be burned (WHACKD!).”
Whether or not the token is real will presumably become clear by the week’s end.
As reported yesterday, McAfee upheld his staunch libertarian line in an interview this week, arguing that authorities should not require crypto firms and trading platforms to help them control digital currency use in illicit activities.
He said he gives primacy to the “societal impact of giving people freedom from a […] corrupted government” over the “small part criminals are going to play in this technology.”
