Steve Bannon: ‘90% of ICOs Have Been a Disaster’

Steve Bannon considers 90% of the ICOs to have been a ‘disaster’, blowing out too many investors as they haven’t been ‘thought through’. He also reiterates that he likes bitcoin and that cryptocurrencies are the future.

‘90% of ICOs Have Been a Disaster’

Former White House Chief Strategist for President Donald Trump’s administration Stephen K. Bannon sat with CNBC’s Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and discussed cryptocurrencies July 18.

According to Bannon, 90 percent of the Initial Coin Offerings have been a “disaster”.

“I think 90 percent of the ICOs have been a disaster,” he said. “Too many investors, I think, have been blown out by things which have not been thought through.”

While it’s true that a large number of ICOs have turned out to be scams, Bannon’s 90 percent is a bit off.

A recent study showed that around 20 percent of the projects have turned out to be a scam while many have offered huge returns. For instance, putting some money into every single visible ICO last year would resulted in a profit 13.2 times of the initial investment.

Steve Bannon ‘Likes bitcoin’

Bannon also hinted that he’s working on a cryptocurrency on his own, saying:

We are working on utility tokens, potentially for the populous movement on a worldwide basis.

This doesn’t come as a surprise. Bannon entered the cryptocurrency field earlier this year, outlining that cryptocurrency is “disruptive populism,” which “takes control back from central authorities.”

“It was pretty obvious to me that unless you got somehow control over your currency, all these political movements were going to be beholden to who controlled the currency,” he said. “Control of the currency, is control of everything.”

The former Chief Strategist also noted that he “likes bitcoin” and that he owns some amount. He also outlined that cryptocurrencies have a “huge aspect in the future” despite the current regulatory uncertainty.

While it’s unclear what amount of bitcoin Bannon owns, earlier this year he revealed that it’s a “good stake”.

What do you think of Bannon’s position on cryptocurrencies? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Bitcoinist Archives; Shutterstock.

Published at Thu, 19 Jul 2018 14:00:55 +0000

Altcoins

December 28, 2017

Crypto Pundit John Mcafee Hacked but Hodling

The markets have shown declines across the board this morning, possibly due to a sell-off during the Asian trading session following government regulation in South Korea. bitcoin and all of its brethren slid overnight by an average of around 12%, and only Ripple seems to have survived.

News can be a big influence on the nascent cryptocurrency market, as can social media, such as Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter. One such crypto aficionado who has taken to social media in recent weeks to air his views is outspoken British-American computer programmer and businessman John McAfee.

Hodl or Die

In an article on MarketWatch, bitcoin bull McAfee remained confident and told those holding the digital currency to keep doing so, despite it shedding 40% off its record high in the past two weeks. McAfee, who founded the self-named anti-virus company in 1987, took to Twitter, where he has been spending a lot of time lately, and posted:

For you who are long term investors like myself: (those who always make the most returns), bitcoin is still the crypto giant. It is at a low price, and will never be cheaper. It will be ten times this price in 2018. Remember – it has the lowest circulating supply of any coin.

Known his for candid comments, McAfee stated at the end of November that he would eat his own manhood if a bitcoin was not worth a million dollars by 2020. He has since become quite a character in the crypto sphere.

Hacked Off

In an ironic twist, the former cyber security chief found himself at the wrong end of the digital divide today when his Twitter account was hacked. McAfee has been using the account to post daily altcoin recommendations, which have largely resulted in somewhat predictable pumps and dumps. Critics have labelled this as market manipulation, but in an unregulated market such as crypto, anything goes. McAfee recently changed the daily coin recommendation to a weekly occurrence.

The hackers had started to post their own coin recommendations using McAfee’s account, which had over half a million followers at the time. Coins pumped during the incursion were BAT, NXT, and Siacoin.

He replied with the following post after users started posting screenshots onto social media:

Urgent: My account was hacked. Twitter has been notified. The coin of the day tweet was not me. As you all know… I am not doing a coin of the day anymore!!!!

In an attempt to extricate himself from the digital abyss, McAfee did post the following:

Though I am a security expert, I have no control over Twitter’s security. I have haters. I am a target. People make fake accounts, fake screenshots, fake claims. I am a target for hackers who lost money and blame me. Please take responsibility for yourselves. Adults only please.

What the hack does is highlight the nature of things in crypto land. It will hopefully serve as a warning that nobody, not even the ex-boss of a cyber security firm, is immune. Take care of your coins!

What are your thoughts on John McAfee: crypto legend or market manipulator? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Twitter/@officialmcafee and Wikimedia Commons.

The post Crypto Pundit John Mcafee Hacked but Hodling appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.

Steve Bannon: ‘90% of ICOs Have Been a Disaster’

‘90% of ICOs Have Been a Disaster’

Steve Bannon ‘Likes bitcoin’

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