Cybersecurity pioneer John McAfee has confirmed that he will be launching on June 25th his own “fiat” currency (the “McAfee Promissory Note”) that is backed by a new cryptocurrency called the “McAfee Redemption Unit” (MRU).

It all started on Tuesday (29 May 2018) when a relatively unknown little company in the UK, called SMARTPAYMINT, that sells cold storage wallets (such as the Ledger Nano S) sent out this tweet, which showed the design for some kind of collectible paper currency featuring an image of John McAfee:

Smart pay Mint

Later, on the same day, McAfee retweeted the above tweet, and said that soon he would be making an announcement about his latest idea:

Shortly thereafter, after finding out that an Indian crypto new website (Crypto-News) was wondering if this was all an elaborate hoax, he followed up with another tweet that said:

John Mcafee Tweet

 

 

A bit later, again on May 29th, McAfee tweeted that he had talked to the Indian news website mentioned above and provided them with some details about his plans:

So, here is what McAfee is saying about his new crypto-backed collectible fiat currency, the McAfee Promissory Note:

  • The McAfee Promissory Note (MPN) is the first currency collector’s item that tries to be forgery proof.
  • The notes comes in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 500 McAfee Redemption Units (MRU).
  • Each note is represented on the blockchain (which one? we should find out on June 25th) by a token or series of tokens. 
  • Each note can, at some point after it is released, be redeemed for a certain number of minutes of face time (maximum for one individual is 100 minutes) with John McAfee; the denomination represents the number of minutes allocated to a private meeting with McAfee. So, for example, a 10 MRU note may be redeemed for 10 minutes with John McAfee.

As you can see from the design of the MPN, the back of each note describes how the note may be redeemed. Basically, the note holder must show up at an address in a luxury neighbourhood just outside of downtown Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. The redemption center will only be open between 13:00 and 15:00. When you turn in your note, you receive a date, time, and address where you will be able to meet McAfee privately. An individual is only able to redeem (ever) one set of notes.

According to McAfee, this is how the MPU is connected to the MRU:

“Each McAfee promissory note is denomination and serial number unique and each note is tied to one or more cryptocurrency coins called ‘McAfee Redemption Units’ (MRUs). A coin identifier or list of coin identifiers is distributed with the note as a separate, collectible document – a paper wallet. It is expected that this paper wallet will be stored in a separate location from the note. None of the coins are initially ‘activated’ however. Coins become activated if and when a note holder chooses to ‘convert’ his or her Fiat note through a process of reverting the note(s), through mail or other means, to the MRU Foundation – the organization responsible for archiving and caring for the physical notes. There may be a processing fee for conversion.”

When someone wants to “convert” an MPU, he/she must send it to the MRU Foundation, where it will get archived (to prevent duplication). Then, the MRU value of the note will get deposited to the holder’s crypto wallet.

McAfee says that he will launch his new currency on June 25th, when he will announce full details. In the meantime, we will keep you updated with any further information that we receive before the launch date.

Featured Image Credit: “Bandera de México” by “Christian Frausto Bernal” via Flickr; licensed under “CC BY-SA 2.0”