Roger Ver
Roger Keith Ver (born January 27, 1979) is an entrepreneur and early cryptocurrency investor known for his advocacy of Bitcoin as a tool for financial sovereignty and his subsequent promotion of Bitcoin Cash as a scalable alternative to Bitcoin's base layer.[1][2] Ver founded MemoryDealers.com in 1999 at age 19 while attending De Anza College, which he later dropped out of to focus on business; the company grew to generate over $1 million in monthly revenue by selling discounted computer memory before he sold it in 2006.[2][3] In 2011, he began investing heavily in Bitcoin, acquiring significant holdings and providing seed funding to startups including BitInstant, Blockchain.com, and Kraken, earning him the moniker "Bitcoin Jesus" for evangelizing its potential to disrupt centralized financial systems.[1][4] His investments and public endorsements helped bootstrap early Bitcoin infrastructure, though he later criticized Bitcoin's block size limit as a barrier to mass adoption, leading him to champion the 2017 Bitcoin Cash fork, which increased block sizes to enable faster, cheaper transactions.[1][4] A self-described libertarian, Ver renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2014 after relocating to Japan, citing opposition to coercive taxation and government overreach; he has advocated for voluntary societal structures and technologies that minimize state intervention.[1] In 2024, Ver faced U.S. federal charges including tax evasion, mail fraud, and filing false returns related to unreported Bitcoin gains during his expatriation process, leading to his arrest in Spain. The case, which prosecutors alleged involved over $48 million in unpaid exit taxes, concluded in October 2025 with Ver entering a deferred prosecution agreement, admitting willful underreporting of Bitcoin ownership but paying approximately $50 million to resolve the matter without a trial or conviction.[5][6] This settlement has fueled debates on cryptocurrency taxation and expatriation rules, with Ver maintaining the charges targeted his ideological stance rather than substantive criminality.[7]Early Life and Background
Childhood and Education
Roger Ver was born on January 27, 1979, in San Jose, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley.[8] His father worked as a computer engineer, exposing Ver to technical environments from an early age.[8] Ver attended Valley Christian High School in San Jose for his secondary education before enrolling at De Anza College, where he studied subjects including electronics, economics, mathematics, and astronomy.[9][10] He left college after a brief period, opting to forgo a degree in favor of entrepreneurial pursuits starting in 1999.[1] This decision reflected an early inclination toward self-directed business activities amid the region's tech-centric culture.[3]Pre-Cryptocurrency Business Ventures
MemoryDealers.com and Early Entrepreneurship
In 1999, at the age of 19 while attending De Anza College, Roger Ver founded MemoryDealers.com, an online retailer specializing in computer memory modules, fiber optic transceivers, and Cisco-compatible networking accessories sourced from the secondary market.[2] [1] Ver dropped out of college to serve as full-time CEO, focusing on direct-to-consumer sales that leveraged low overhead and efficient online operations to achieve rapid profitability.[2] The company expanded internationally, employing dozens of staff worldwide and generating millions in annual revenue by the mid-2000s through competitive pricing and customer-oriented service.[2] [11] Ver's early entrepreneurial activities extended beyond MemoryDealers.com to include side ventures on platforms like eBay, where from January 1999 to August 2000 he sold explosive devices marketed as "Pest Control Report 2000"—essentially powerful firecrackers containing approximately 14 pounds of explosives purchased and stored unlicensed in his residential apartment before mailing them to buyers.[12] On May 2, 2002, Ver, then 22, pleaded guilty in federal court to three felony counts: dealing in explosives without a license (18 U.S.C. § 842(a)(1)), illegally storing explosives (18 U.S.C. § 842(j)), and mailing injurious articles (18 U.S.C. § 1716).[12] He was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison beginning August 2, 2002, a $2,000 fine, and three years of supervised release, resulting in temporary loss of voting rights as a convicted felon under California law.[12] Ver later reflected on the experience as disproportionately punitive for a non-violent offense, using it to publicly critique aspects of the U.S. criminal justice system and advocate for reform.[13]Introduction to Cryptocurrency
Initial Bitcoin Adoption and Promotion
In early 2011, Roger Ver encountered Bitcoin after reading Satoshi Nakamoto's whitepaper, recognizing its potential as a decentralized monetary system free from central bank oversight.[14] He promptly began acquiring bitcoins at prices around $1 each, marking one of his initial forays into the cryptocurrency.[15] This early investment quickly appreciated, yielding Ver his first million dollars from Bitcoin holdings by the end of that year.[15] Ver emerged as an early evangelist for Bitcoin, conducting interviews, producing YouTube videos, and speaking at conferences to advocate its use as a superior alternative to fiat money.[14] He integrated Bitcoin into his business operations, such as accepting it for payments at MemoryDealers.com, and supported adoption by donating bitcoins to libertarian and economic education initiatives, including a landmark $1 million equivalent donation of 1,000 BTC to the Foundation for Economic Education in late 2013.[16] By 2013, Ver's Bitcoin portfolio had grown substantially in value, reaching millions of dollars amid rising market prices.[15] His fervent, missionary-style promotion of Bitcoin as a portable and divisible form of sound money led to the moniker "Bitcoin Jesus," reflecting his role in proselytizing the technology to a skeptical audience.[1] This nickname underscored Ver's commitment to spreading awareness and fostering early ecosystem growth through tangible actions rather than mere speculation.[1]