• Bitcoin finally slips to USD 6,679 on Tuesday trading
• John McAfee says he will put the brakes on blockchain promotions to focus on US Presidential campaign
• Google searches for “Bitcoin halving” have been heating up

After a tough, tough showing since the end of last week, Bitcoin finally gave up its key support line at USD 7,000. However, the good news for long traders is that sellers have not been able to accelerate the downfall, with the day’s low only at USD 6,679 as of 2:55 pm London time (CoinDesk).

While 5% losses will be a huge blow to short-termers, the fact that it has taken sellers such effort even at minimal volumes suggest that the opposite can be as easily attained.

Twitter sentiment seems to be blaming the new report by Chainalysis which has fingered PlusToken as a Ponzi scam. With a lack of other big news, it would appear to be true, at least in the sense of immediate sentiment. The figure of BTC 20,000 (USD 137 million) controlled by PlusToken doesn’t seem to warrant such a reaction, however.

Could it instead be disappointment from the millions of followers of crypto influencer John McAfee? The self-exiled US Presidential campaigner, who is purportedly on the run near the Bahamas, has apparently given up on his promotional campaigns for blockchain and crypto.

I'm not backing off from Crypto. I'm backing off from promoting specific coins or projects. It's the Wild West here in Crypto. Even I cannot properly vet anything in this nuclear explosion of technology, promise and exploitation to the degree that I am comfortable promoting it.

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) December 14, 2019

He summarized a series of Tweets by saying: “I’m no longer doing crypto promos.”

But he goes on to say that it is merely a refocusing of efforts on his 2020 Presidential campaign which, if he wins, would likely catapult Bitcoin into stratospheric price regions. Perhaps this is his mysterious strategy, and why he has boldly promised to eat his own private part on national TV should Bitcoin not reach USD 1 million by 2020?

When I predicted Bitcoin at $500,000 by the end of 2020, it used a model that predicted $5,000 at the end of 2017. BTC has accelerated much faster than my model assumptions. I now predict Bircoin at $1 million by the end of 2020. I will still eat my dick if wrong. pic.twitter.com/WVx3E71nyD

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) November 29, 2017

He stated:

“People ask why I am no longer doing Blockchain promotions. It is very time consuming. My Presidential Campaign will be starting in earnest in January and I cannot do both. I am in no way abandoning crypto; only the task of promoting specific projects.”

Or is McAfee simply gaining a conscience by saying he will no longer shill random projects that pay him to do so? Either way, it’s good news for both sides of the coin. People who don’t trust him will find he has improved his reputation. Those who do will be happy he is now focusing on his campaign and hope he will be in a seat of power.

In any case, if anyone needs even more confirmation that retail interest in the world’s biggest and most used digital asset is still high, then read on.

Google Trends today shows that the global search volume for the keyword “Bitcoin halving” has continued to increase, not decrease, as we approach the next block reward halving event estimated to take place in May 2020.

With just under 6 months left for that to happen, this clearly means that mainstream people are looking forward and curious about the scarcity event that will ensure even fewer new Bitcoin is generated every day.

Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million coins is becoming more and more well known, perhaps the most visible aspect of its difference when compared to other currencies, giving it a scarcity value. Along with reduced minting of new coins every four years or so (on average), thanks to a halving of new bitcoins generated with each new block found by miners, Bitcoin also has a deflationary nature. This is completely unlike most other fiat money, where central banks are at liberty to print as much money as they want, giving them the familiar inflationary value people will understand.

This rising attention and the growing awareness of Bitcoin halving has been talked up be several crypto analysts. One example is Adamant Capital co-founder Tuur Demeester who said that many people still believe Bitcoin halving as a catalyst for price. He notes:

“It’s very clear that retail interest in BTC is nonexistent and investor sentiment is pretty bad right now. Question is whether the halvening could provide a bullish narrative – the Google trends data imo suggests it could.”

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