John McAfee Says Boycott HitBTC, Crypto Exchanges Called Into Question

John McAfee Tells Followers to Boycott HitBTC

John McAfee is one of the most influential voices within the online crypto community. Earlier today, McAfee used that voice to tell his Twitter followers to boycott HitBTC, the world’s sixth largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume.

The crypto exchanges have become the thing that we have originally fought against. Their power is immense. Hitbtc, for example, has increased suffering for millions of poor people who cannot afford the minimum buy-in since it is greater than their monthly income. Boycott them.

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 28, 2018

“The crypto exchanges have become the thing that we have originally fought against,” explained McAfee in a tweet. “Their power is immense.”

Why does McAfee have a particular problem with HitBTC? McAfee claims the exchange “has increased suffering for millions of poor people” because these poor people “cannot afford the minimum buy-in since it is greater than their monthly income.”

McAfee concluded his tweet saying, “Boycott them.”

As far as cryptocurrency exchanges go, HitBTC is one of the more unusual ones. It’s been in active exchange since 2014. However, the exchange is operated from an unknown location. The exchange has various entities registered in Hong Kong. However, it’s unclear if the exchange is run from Hong Kong or from another location.

It’s not totally clear what John McAfee is talking about with this post. HitBTC is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, but it seems unlikely they’ve played a direct role in increasing the suffering “for millions of poor people.”

Is McAfee just mad about paying the listing fee on HitBTC? Crypto exchanges purportedly charge up to $500,000 for a coin to be listed on their exchange. With McAfee involved in a number of different coin projects, it’s possible he’s mad about paying a listing fee. However, it’s not clear how a single listing fee would negatively affect “millions of poor people”.

Other John McAfee tweets from today, meanwhile, reference his unhackable Bitfi wallet and his upcoming appearance at the Blockchain World Conference. He hasn’t provided further details about his proposed boycott of HitBTC.

In less than five hours, my new unhackable Bitfi wallet will sell out again. The first batch sold out in only 22 minutes! Its light years beyond anything else out there and the safest way you can store your crypto. Go to https://t.co/ATFaxwUzQC

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 27, 2018

I will be speaking at the Blockchain World Conference at Harrah's Casino in Atlantic City. It will be the largest crypto event in history with eight thousand attendees and live streaming across the world. Use this link to purchase tickets for $334. https://t.co/VvOBkWaAZb

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 28, 2018

Other Crypto Exchanges Are Behaving Strangely this Week

Beyond McAfee’s latest tweet, it’s clear to see what crypto exchanges have been behaving strangely all week. Earlier today, one Redditor pointed out that a number of major exchanges are going through purported “system upgrades”.

What's happening with IOTA today? Speculation central. from Iota

That Redditor, /u/CMtopdog, mentioned that OKEX recently disabled IOTA deposits and withdrawals, for example, on June 27. That same day, Binance announced it was down for maintenance. Meanwhile, Coinbase is launching Coinbase Pro on June 29.

Are these events connected in any way? Are cryptocurrency exchanges really down for maintenance?

Well, this appears to be a non-issue. Exchanges go through maintenance periodically, and they often shut down trading during maintenance periods. OKEx announced their scheduled maintenance a few days ago, while Binance announced that they had completed their maintenance on June 26.

Nevertheless, some people believe Coinbase’s launch of Coinbase Pro is connected to the unusual activity on other cryptocurrency exchanges. They point to allegations like the ones in March 2018 when it was suggested that Binance, OKEx, and Huobi were fabricating up to 92.9% of trading volume on their platforms.

“Old habits don’t die! Something fishy is going on among these ‘free’ crypto-exchanges for sure!!!!” explained one Redditor.

Are these cryptocurrency exchanges really acting strangely? Or is this just routine maintenance that has been blown out of proportion? Why is John McAfee so mad about HitBTC? These are all good questions – but we may have to wait a few days to discover the answers.