--- title: "John McAfee Springs Back From the Grave as an AI, Promoting a New Meme Coin" description: "Antivirus guru and erstwhile tax outlaw John McAfee is back from the dead, and he wants to sell you a meme coin." date: "2025-01-24" modified: "2025-01-24" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/mcafee-resurrected-meme-coin" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Future Society" tags: - "artificial intelligence" - "crypto" - "john mcafee" - "the digest" --- # John McAfee Springs Back From the Grave as an AI, Promoting a New Meme Coin ![Antivirus guru and erstwhile tax outlaw John McAfee is back from the dead, and he wants to sell you a meme coin.]() *\Image: LiPo Ching / MediaNews Group / The Mercury News via Getty / Futurism\* ## Believe in Angels Antivirus guru and [erstwhile tax outlaw]() John McAfee is back from the dead, at least on social media, and he wants to sell you a meme coin. Three-and-a-half years after his [2021 apparent suicide]() in the face of extradition from Spain to the United States, the [former presidential candidate]()'s X-formerly-Twitter account [sprang back to life](), announcing that an "AI version" of McAfee called AIntivirus and promoting a meme token of the same name. "You didn't think I would miss this cycle," McAfee's account teased, "did you?" Almost immediately after the mostly-silent account woke up from its slumber to start shilling crypto, folks online began to speculate that it [had been hacked](), prompting the late fugitive tech founder's widow, Janice McAfee, to set the record straight. "John's account has not been hacked," the widow said in a [video on her account](), which was subsequently shared by the official McAfee page. "This project is real, AIntivirus is real." ## Beyond the Grave As of right now, it's unclear what role AI plays in the project, or whether McAfee's widow is operating his official page or the [@AIntivirus account](), which has over the past day tweeted up a storm in the late programmer-turned-criminal's voice. In one post, the AI version of the late programmer-turned-criminal announced that paperwork had been filed to get the token $AINTI onto the Moonshot crypto marketplace. "The token nobody thought would exist (and probably shouldn’t) is gunning for the crypto app where anything can happen," [the account posted](). "No idea what’ll happen next. Maybe they’ll list it. Maybe they’ll laugh and ban my account." "Either way," the post continued, "the rocket’s fueled, and I’m not steering." In another post, [written again in McAfee's voice](), the AI clone of the alleged tax evader jeered at those who thought he and his widow had been hacked. "You think I got hacked? I wrote the damn playbook," AIintivirus wrote. "Every 'hack' you’ve ever heard of is just someone fumbling through tricks I mastered decades ago while chain-smoking on a yacht." In a [post retweeted by the AIntivirus account](), Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson — who also "[welcomed]()" the late antivirus czar back from the dead — jokingly derided the digital resurrection and "dubious crypto scam" as "the most John McAfee thing possible." "It's going to develop a digital drug habit within a week," Hoskinson quipped, "and then start a metaverse called New Belize before escaping to Europe." If only the world could be that simple. **More on crypto:** [*Gullible Trump Supporters Lose Millions on Fake $BARRON Meme Coin*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()