By Neenah Payne
Roger Ver is widely known as “Bitcoin Jesus” for his early promotion of the cryptocurrency. In 1999, at age 19 while in college, Ver founded MemoryDealers.com, the first business to accept bitcoin as payment. Around 2017, the multi-millionaire Bitcoin advocate switched his allegiance to Bitcoin Cash.
Ver calls Bitcoin "one of the most important inventions in the history of humankind." He is best-known for managing Bitcoin.com from 2015-19. Ver says in the video further below with Tucker Carlson that he bought bitcoin when it cost less than $1. This month, Bitcoin broke through $100K for the first time. Ver points out that some people are now using Monero for more privacy.
Ver relocated to Japan in 2006. When he renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2014, Ver became a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis. In April this year, Ver was arrested in Spain at the behest of U.S. authorities while on a trip to Barcelona to attend a crypto conference. The Biden administration wanted to put Ver in jail for 109 years! However, the crypto-friendly Trump administration is unlikely to do that.
US authorities are seeking his extradition on charges including tax evasion, mail fraud, and filing false tax returns. Prosecutors claim Ver undervalued his assets and failed to report ownership of about 131,000 bitcoins. Ver denied the allegations in an interview with Tucker Carlson on Dec. 10. “I wasn’t an American citizen or living in the US at the time these claims were made,” Ver said.
Ver accused the US government of being “angry” not about taxes but about his “lack of obedience.” The Bitcoin evangelist also linked his indictment to the publication in April 2024 of book Hijacking Bitcoin: The Hidden History of BTC which he claims exposes government interference in the cryptocurrency industry. Ver is contesting charges made against him by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
Tucker Carlson Interview
According to a Bloomberg report, Ver was permitted to leave jail on May 17 on the condition that he hand in his passport and remain in Spain pending a decision on his extradition to the U.S. where he faces $50 million tax evasion charges. Ver was released on bail after posting a €150,000 bail. Ver must report to court every two days and must remain on the island of Maiorca.
Ver says in the video below that only Tucker has interviewed him since his arrest in April. Ver asks people to sign at https://www.freerogernow.org/. The site currently has 16,812 signatures with the goal of 20,000.
Why the Intel Agencies Want to Track Your Every Transaction and Throw Roger Ver in Jail for Life
Roger Ver is facing life in prison for revealing how the US government worked secretly to subvert cryptocurrency and prevent economic freedom. More people should hear this story.
Known for his early investments in bitcoin (BTC) and his libertarian advocacy, Bitcoin.com founder Roger Ver faces potential extradition to the United States from Spain on allegations of tax evasion—charges he strongly contests.
“I think they’re not really angry about taxes at all,” Ver told Carlson during his interview, emphasizing what he perceives as the U.S. government’s disapproval of his long-standing promotion of financial autonomy through cryptocurrencies. Often referred to as “Bitcoin Jesus,” Ver was one of the earliest adopters and proponents of cryptocurrency, investing heavily in its ecosystem.
The entrepreneur always advocated for bitcoin to function as peer-to-peer cash, Ver explained, criticizing how he believes the leading cryptocurrency has been transformed into a speculative asset. According to him, early hopes for bitcoin as an alternative to fiat currency were subverted by a combination of intelligence agencies and institutional players.
He detailed these claims in his book, “Hijacking Bitcoin.” Carlson noted the ideological shift in cryptocurrency. The podcast host explained how the promise of bitcoin was freedom—autonomy over your own money, but now it felt different. Carlson said he was “very interested in how that happened.” The interview delved into Ver’s assertions that U.S. agencies have sought to stifle the potential of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
He accused intelligence agencies of intervening early on to promote narratives that reduced bitcoin’s use as a medium of exchange. Ver claimed that online forums such as bitcointalk.org and the Bitcoin subreddit r/bitcoin were manipulated through censorship and propaganda, which allegedly steered the currency away from its decentralized roots.
He asserted that moderators aligned with U.S. intelligence agencies suppressed discussions about scaling bitcoin for global use. Ver, who renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2014 and adopted St. Kitts and Nevis nationality, questioned the legal basis for his extradition. He emphasized that he was not a U.S. citizen during the years in question and adhered strictly to his tax obligations through legal counsel.
Carlson asked Ver if he felt Bitcoin was originally crafted by U.S. intelligence agencies. “I don’t think it was created that way initially, but I am suspicious and I do think the intelligence agencies and other groups have converted it and hijacked it into becoming a financial trap,” he said.
Despite facing a possible 109-year prison sentence, Ver maintained optimism. He expressed hope that the Spanish courts would reject the extradition request and emphasized the need for public advocacy. “There’s a lot of ways to stop this but the most useful way I think is to get the public to speak out,” Ver remarked. “The more people speak out, the safer all of us can be.”
Ver told Carlson that his supporters set up a website at freerogernow.org and said that the website hosts his Motion to Dismiss. “[This is] where you can literally see for yourself with your own eyes, the U.S. government is literally lying in their indictment and the proof is up there with the emails between myself and my attorneys,” Ver stated. “You can go and see it. Please go take a look at it.”
The bitcoin entrepreneur added:
Don’t take my word for it, take a look at that Motion to Dismiss, they’re lying … they’re lying to the court in Spain they’re just lying every which way, because they don’t want the world to know the truth about cryptocurrencies.
“I’m a little bit surprised that the government of Spain is honoring the extradition request,” Carlson remarked during the interview, diving straight into the heart of the matter with Ver. Calling the U.S. government’s charges “absurd on its face,” Tucker questioned why Spain would even consider going along with such an extreme move. Ver, ever the composed optimist, praised his Spanish attorney’s efforts, sharing that his lawyer in Spain remains “optimistic about the situation,” despite the looming uncertainty. Ver remarked that he is “cautiously optimistic that Spain will see through this.”
Ver stated: President Biden can do the right thing. He just recently pardoned his own son. He can issue a preemptive pardon for me. Trump when he gets into office, if anyone knows what it’s like to be the victim of lawfare, it’s Trump. So I think he’ll be able to see it with this case as well. [Trump] can issue a preemptive pardon for me as well, and for a bunch of other people that deserve it.
“That is just one of the craziest stories I think I ever heard,” Carlson concluded. “Roger, Godspeed, we are just rooting for you fervently and I hope this helps in some small way. You’re in our thoughts.”
Book: Hijacking Bitcoin
Roger Ver is the author of the April 2024 book Hijacking Bitcoin: The Hidden History of BTC.
Amazon Description
Bitcoin was promised to be a liberating technology, a free market alternative to state-controlled money. But that promise was broken after a small group of insiders took over the project and fundamentally changed Bitcoin's design.
Few people know the true history of Bitcoin and its original design due to years of heavy censorship, social media engineering, and tight information controls online. Hijacking Bitcoin destroys the most popular narratives that surround Bitcoin and sets the historical record straight.
Roger Ver's passion and pain come through as he tells the story of a beloved project corrupted in front of his eyes. Written by one of the most prominent figures in the cryptocurrency industry, this book is impossible to ignore.
From the inside flap: Bitcoin has been captured and changed for the worse. That's the undeniable conclusion of Hijacking Bitcoin. Chocked full of history and inconvenient truths, this book goes on a myth-busting rampage against the most popular narratives that surround BTC.
Is Bitcoin truly decentralized? Is it supposed to be digital gold or digital cash? Did the original design really have scaling problems? Roger Ver addresses these questions head-on and provides uncomfortable answers.
Roger Ver is the world's first investor in Bitcoin startups and has been a prominent name in the cryptocurrency industry since the beginning. Yet, as he confesses in the introduction, this book is not a love story. It's a devastating exposé of the corruption, propaganda, and centralization of power in Bitcoin.
Roger Ver's legal team moves to dismiss indictment citing government overreach
Ver is also known by the moniker 'Bitcoin Jesus'
When popular bitcoin influencer Roger Ver, known by his 700,000 X followers as "Bitcoin Jesus," was arrested in May while attending a cryptocurrency conference in Barcelona, the $3 trillion digital asset industry erupted with social media posts and commentary from leading industry voices condemning the act as yet another example of the Biden administration's "war on crypto."
Ver’s arrest came after the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California unsealed an eight-count criminal indictment accusing him of allegedly failing to pay nearly $50 million in taxes on the sale of some $240 million worth of bitcoin in 2017 and under-representing the value of his bitcoin holdings in 2014 when he renounced his citizenship and left the U.S. for the Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Lawyers for Ver, 45, an early adopter and promoter of bitcoin who has publicly criticized the U.S. government’s approach to crypto regulation, say the Justice Department’s indictment is purely political and another example of Biden-era officials using enforcement to regulate a space without providing clear rules of the road.
Now Ver and his lawyers are fighting back. His legal team is made up of attorneys from white-shoe law firms Steptoe LLP and Kimura London & White, who on Tuesday filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, citing unconstitutional government overreach and misleading evidence. They are hoping that a crypto-friendly Trump administration will drop the case as part of the president-elect’s promise to end the prior administration's regulatory assault on the industry.
Presidential Pardon For Ver
Why Roger Ver Deserves a Presidential Pardon
The US government is attempting to imprison Roger Ver for 109 years for the crime of following his lawyers’ advice. His case represents an unprecedented attack on attorney-client privilege that threatens everyone who relies on professional counsel. Today, Ver sits silenced in Spain, unable to defend himself publicly, while prosecutors use his own lawyers’ records against him—records that show his meticulous attempts to follow the law. This isn’t just about cryptocurrency; it’s about whether any American can safely consult legal counsel without fear of prosecution.
If this precedent stands, seeking professional advice could become evidence of criminality. Business owners, entrepreneurs, and ordinary citizens who rely on lawyers and accountants will all be at risk. The time to act is now, before this dangerous precedent becomes permanent…..
Two Dreams, One Persecution: Why Trump Must Resurrect Bitcoin Jesus
Trump’s Plan To End Crypto Crackdown
Trump: Time 2024 Person of The Year shows that on December 12, Time magazine chose Trump as the 2024 “Person of the Year” recognizing the president-elect as the individual deemed to have wielded the greatest influence on global affairs. As part of the honor, Trump rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange. DON IT TWICE Trump becomes first president since Ronald Reagan to ring NYSE bell as he celebrates second Time Person of the Year win. At the NYSE, Trump was described as the “most crypto-friendly” president in history.
SEC COMMISSIONER BACKS TRUMP'S PLAN TO END CRYPTO CRACKDOWN (video)
People on Ver's legal team are hoping that a crypto-friendly Trump administration will drop the case as part of the president-elect’s promise to end the regulatory assault on the industry. (James Devaney/GC
Bitcoin tops $100,000 US as Trump win continues to fuel crypto rise. 12/5/24
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This information is not an endorsement of cryptocurrency or any provider, service, or offering. It is not a recommendation to trade.
Cryptocurrencies are speculative, complex, and involve significant risks. They are highly volatile and sensitive to secondary activity. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance. Consider your circumstances and obtain advice. Verify the nature of any product or service (including its legal status and regulatory requirements). Consult relevant regulators' websites before making any decision.
The author may have holdings in the cryptocurrencies discussed.
Neenah Payne writes for Activist Post
Main image credit: Brownstone Institute
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