McAfee Begs Hackers to Fight India’s Bitcoin Ban

By CCN: “The war has begun.” Thus thundered enigmatic crypto celebrity John McAfee as he issued an all-caps rebuke to India’s bombshell proposal to ban bitcoin ownership and slap offenders with draconian 10-year prison sentences.

John McAfee: Anonymous Must Step Up to Fight India’s Draconian Bitcoin Ban Bill

John McAfee unleashed a fiery retort to India’s crypto ban bill, though he later deleted the tweets. | Source: Twitter (deleted)

Ranting at the proposal in two now-deleted tweets, the software-developer-turned-crypto-promoter did not mince words about the “Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill,” which seeks to prohibit bitcoin ownership and force residents to use a state-run digital currency alternative.

“The war has begun. An entire nation wishing to free itself is now punished for using the instrument of freedom,” he said.

Not content to merely wage a war of words, McAfee proposed concrete action to fight the draconian policies of India’s anti-crypto regime. What action? He called on notorious hacktivist group Anonymous to “step up to the plate” and defend bitcoin users in the world’s second-largest country.

“If there ever was a time for Anonymous to step up to the plate, that time is now!”

Crypto Ownership at Risk in World’s Second-Largest Country

India, bitcoin crypto, cryptocurrency

India could ban bitcoin to promote adoption of its own digital currency. | Source: Shutterstock

As CCN reported, Indian lawmakers proposed that the government should make bitcoin ownership illegal and deal out 10-year prison sentences to people who touch cryptocurrenices, even indirectly.

This includes users who:

“mine, generate, hold, sell, transfer, dispose, issue or deal in cryptocurrencies, directly or indirectly.”

Further still, anyone caught generating profits from their bitcoin dealings would find themselves buried under a fine equal to three times their profits.

All Indian bitcoin investors would have just 90 days to report their holdings to the government and then dispose of them, almost certainly at prices well below their value on the global market.

McAfee Teases ‘Freedom Coin’ Cryptocurrency

It’s not clear why John McAfee deleted the tweets. After all, it’s not like he’s concerned with maintaining a squeaky-clean reputation.

In any case, “freedom” has been a consistent theme in McAfee’s Twitter feed.

Last month, he announced that he would launch his own cryptocurrency, called “Freedom Coin,” which he told CCN would “Free crypto from the bonds if (sic) the system we are trying to replace.”

He’s also thrown his hat into the ever-widening ring of the 2020 US presidential election. His campaign slogan?  “Don’t Vote McAfee.”

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