Roger Keith Ver (born 27 January 1979[1]) is an early investor in bitcoin, bitcoin-related startups and an early promoter of bitcoin.[2] Ver has sometimes been referred to as "Bitcoin Jesus".[2] He now primarily promotes Bitcoin Cash as Ver sees it as fulfilling the intended and original purpose of the 'Bitcoin White Paper', first published in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, in which Nakamoto referred to Bitcoin as, "A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System."[3] [4]
Born and raised in Silicon Valley, he sold fireworks on eBay and later pleaded guilty to a related felony charge.[5] He served 10 months in prison then moved to Japan in 2005. He renounced his United States citizenship in 2014 after obtaining a Saint Kitts and Nevis passport. He went on to serve as CEO of Bitcoin.com.[6]
Personal life
Ver was born in San Jose, California. He attended Valley Christian High School. He then attended De Anza College for a year, dropping out to pursue his business interests. He identifies as a libertarian, anarcho-capitalist, voluntaryist, a peace advocate, and an advocate for individualism.[7] Ver attempted a run for state assembly in the libertarian party. During a debate in the run up to this election, he claimed that the Drug Enforcement Agency was criminal in its practice. This was followed by an arrest by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, resulting in a 10-month prison sentence for illegally selling "explosives."[5][8] He moved to Japan in 2005, where he still maintains his residence as of 2021.
Ver renounced his United States citizenship in 2014 after he became a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis.[9][10] In 2015, he was denied a visa to reenter the United States by the U.S. Embassy in Barbados, which claimed that he had not sufficiently proven ties outside of the United States that would motivate him to leave at the end of his visit, causing fears he might become an illegal immigrant.[8][10][11] Ver's name was published in the 2018 Q1 Quarterly Publication of Individuals Who Have Chosen to Expatriate.[12] In 2019 Ver was denied a visa to travel to Australia.[13]
According to an interview he gave in 2016, Ver describes Brazilian jiu-jitsu as one of his major passions in life. Ver can be seen in videos competing in BJJ world championships[14] and has achieved the rank of brown belt.[15]
In 2018 he was ranked number 36 in Fortune's The Ledger 40 under 40[16] for transforming business at the leading edge of finance and technology.
Prison Experience
In 2018, Ver made a video that he posted to YouTube speaking on his experiences in federal prison spanning from 2002 to 2003. Ver labeled the video as, "My Story of Being Tortured in Prison." Ver claims in the video that he was arrested for "...selling firecrackers on eBay back when eBay had a 'guns and ammo' section and it wasn't a big deal to do that at all... and in fact the real reason that I went to prison is that I was busy saying things like I am going to say in this video...and politicians don't like it when you speak truth to power...but that's too bad because the truth is more important than being popular with politicians." Ver went on to say, "I was allowed to choose the day that my prison sentence started. I chose to start my prison sentence on a Friday. Don't ever start your prison sentence on a Friday. And certainly don't do it on a Friday right before a national holiday. I think mine was on a Friday right before Memorial Day, or Labor Day or something like that." Ver states that beginning on a Friday prolongs your initial processing into prison, and as a result the prison placed him in a solitary confinement room or a "SHU" for "Security Housing Unit" until the following Tuesday. Ver goes on to describe other unpleasantries such as being in a room, "...having no privacy at all, or a door, or anything, and you have to use the restroom right in the middle of the room in front of other people."
The final part of the video describes what Ver specifically termed the "torture" part of, "My Story of Being Tortured in Prison." Ver relates an experience where a guard planted a shiv (weapon) on Ver's person while Ver was requested to visit the prison laundry room. The guard allegedly proceeded to mock Ver and bring him to tears and convulsions by threatening "You're coming in here with a shank, are you trying to shank somebody! You're going to do more time for this!" The guard planted the weapon on Ver in an attempt to threaten him with prolonging the duration of time that he would need to serve in prison.Ver states he began experiencing a mental and physical breakdown and that, "...when the guard saw that tears were coming down my face, and that when he saw that I was crying 'enough', the guard patted me on the back and said 'relax, I was only kidding!" Ver asserts that the man "tortured" him in this manner "purely for his own amusement."
Career
MemoryDealers.com
He was the CEO of MemoryDealers.com from 1999 until 2012.[17] In 2000, he attempted to enter politics by running for California State Assembly as a candidate for the Libertarian Party.[18]
Fireworks Charge
In 2002, Ver pleaded guilty to selling explosives, or fireworks, without a license, as well as illegally storing, and mailing the fireworks. Ver sold at least 14 pounds of a brand called "Pest Control Report 2000" fireworks as large firecrackers on eBay, stored them in a residential apartment building, and mailed them to customers via the U.S. Postal Service. He was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison.[9][8][5][19]
Cryptocurrency
Ver began investing in bitcoin in early 2011 when "...the price was still under one U.S. Dollar each"[20].[2] The first investment he made was for Charlie Shrem’s Bitinstant.[21] Ver's investment allowed the company to hire a designer and another programmer.[22] He invested over a million dollars into new bitcoin-related startups, including Ripple, Blockchain.com, Bitpay[23] and Kraken.[9] In 2011, Ver's company Memorydealers was the first to accept bitcoin as payment.[24] He has been a prominent supporter of bitcoin adoption and saw bitcoin as a means to promote economic freedom.
In 2012, Ver was organizing bitcoin meetups in Sunnyvale.[25] He is one of five founders of the Bitcoin Foundation.[26] Ver wants bitcoin to rival major fiat currencies.
He is one of the main proponents of a larger block size. He supported the development of Bitcoin XT as a hard fork method towards an increase. Ver and his high-school friend Jesse Powell attempted to re-establish the Mt Gox exchange during the June 2011 bitcoin price crash.[25]
Ver served as CEO of Bitcoin.com[27] until 1 August 2019, at which point he transitioned to Executive Chairman. Fortune Magazine in early 2020 mistakenly referred to Roger Ver as the co-creator of Bitcoin Cash.
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