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Often controversial but always entertaining, John McAfee is without a doubt one of the loudest voices in crypto on social media. And a recent study has found that the old master shill is in fact the most influential figure when it comes to trading coins.
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John McAfee Is Crypto Twitter’s Top Dog
To understand who cryptocurrency traders trust, blockchain-focused research company Clovr surveyed 500 self-proclaimed blockchain enthusiasts about the influencers they follow for insights, updates and predictions. People were asked to choose from a list of nearly 80 influencers and their preferences were combined with the total number of followers each industry figure has on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube to create a meta-ranking.
John McAfee was found to be the most influential figure, followed by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin at number two and Litecoin creator Charlie Lee in the third spot. Surprisingly, if you disregard numbers of social media followers and focus exclusively on the trust factor, McAfee still came out first, even though he has promoted some shady projects in the past.
In fact, the antivirus pioneer ranked at the top across different age groups and political persuasions, leading the researchers to conclude that “when it comes to influencing the decisions of blockchain investors, it’s John McAfee’s world — we just live in it.”
However, the researchers did reveal a couple of weaknesses for McAfee. Women ranked him at just number five, and almost 85 percent of his followers came from just one platform, namely Twitter.
Democrats Love ETH, Republicans LTC?
McAfee swept first place among both Republicans and Democrats, suggesting that political leanings are not particularly consequential for crypto users. More puzzling is that Charlie Lee was number two among Republicans who are interested in cryptocurrency, but did not even place in the top five for Democrats. Similarly, Vitalik Buterin earned the second spot among Democrats, but didn’t make the top five list for Republicans at all.
The researchers note that out of 500 respondents in total, 26 percent were female and 74 percent were male. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 73, with an average age of 32 years. About 42 percent of respondents reported as Republicans and 56 percent as Democrats, with all other political parties excluded from the results due to insufficient sample sizes.
Should people really follow what John McAfee says? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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