Tech guru John McAfee claims he can help Cuba by launching a cryptocurrency that overcomes a U.S. trade embargo.
In an interview, McAfee also revealed that he believes that income tax is illegal and will run for the Libertarian Party nomination for U.S. president.
“It would be trivial to get around the U.S. government’s embargo through the use of a clever system of currency,” he said, according to Reuters. “So I made a formal offer to help them for free … on a private channel through Twitter.”
Cuba recently revealed that it was investigating the potential use of cryptocurrency to help its financial crisis that has been worsened by tighter U.S. sanctions. Other countries under U.S. sanctions, including Iran and Venezuela, have already turned to crypto to try to boost their economies.
“You can’t just create a coin and expect it to fly. You have to base it on the proper blockchain, have it structured such that it meets the specific needs of a country or economic situation,” explained McAfee. “There are probably fewer than ten people in the world who know how to do that, and I’m certainly one of them.”
McAfee is currently living on his yacht in a Havana harbor while he’s on the run from U.S. tax authorities. He said he did not pay income tax for eight years for ideological reasons and was indicted. He left the United States in January for the Bahamas to avoid trial and arrived in Cuba a month ago after he suspected that he was going to be extradited from the Bahamas.
He hopes to extend his Cuban visitor visa indefinitely and will use social media to campaign for the Libertarian nomination. Since he won’t be in the United States, thousands of volunteers wearing masks of his face will campaign for him back home and overseas.