Following the SEC announcement that Ether is not a security, founder of McAfee Antivirus, John McAfee, refused to accept the SEC view that all ICOs are securities. He argued on Twitter that it is going too far and will not stand.

On Twitter, McAfee posted: "I will not now, nor will I ever, accept this as a reality. I am submitting, now, to this law, but I will fight with every last breath to ensure that this absurd overreach by the SEC will not stand!! It will not stand!"

William Hinman, head of the Division of Corporation Finance at the SEC, said that Ethereum shows signs of clear decentralization and that, even though it was funded through an ICO, it is not a security. He reiterated comments made by Jay Clayton, SEC Chairman that all ICOs are securities. He clarified the position by saying that once a token is being traded, if it is not clearly controlled by a third party and is decentralized then it may no longer be a security.

McAfee has also responded to this statement by challenging the SEC to a debate. His main argument is that ICOs do not pass the Howey Test which is traditionally used to gauge whether or not a financial instrument is likely to be deemed a security or not. He has previously debated with the FBI over their request for Apple to provide a backdoor for the US government.

A security in US securities law is a financial instrument that is sold with an expectation of future value. Securities need to be registered, a process which is expensive, and fines can be issued of up to $725,000.

McAfee has also announced recently that he will run for US President again after running in 2016 and losing out to Donald Trump. On this, he said: "I have no intention of winning the election for US President - a dull goal. My intention is to disrupt the entire election process by shining a spotlight on the corruption, fraud, collusion and abuse of power by the elite who control our elections. 'Tis nough, 'twill do."

'Godfather of the Privacy Movement' McAfee also ran a meme contest for users to create memes featuring his face. A lot of them focused on his support for Bitcoin Private, a privacy-based coin. The contest ended June 14 and results will be announced within a few days. He also released details of a cryptocurrency-backed fiat currency called the 'McAfee Redemption Units'. Owners of the currency will be able to exchange it for time with McAfee himself.