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Roger Ver
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Roger Ver
Roger Keith Ver (born 1979) is an entrepreneur best known as the first investor in Bitcoin and the Bitcoin ecosystem. He was an early promoter of Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related startups and is sometimes known as "Bitcoin Jesus" for his evangelism of cryptocurrency in its early days.
While Ver has often been associated with Bitcoin Cash, he has consistently emphasized that he supports any cryptocurrency that functions as "peer-to-peer cash", as originally cited in the Bitcoin whitepaper authored by Satoshi Nakamoto. He previously was CEO of Bitcoin.com, later becoming its Executive Chairman.
In 2014, he renounced his United States citizenship after obtaining citizenship in Saint Kitts and Nevis. In 2024, he was indicted for tax fraud but eventually settled the case with the IRS and was not pursued criminally.
Ver was born in 1979 in San Jose, California. He attended Valley Christian High School and then De Anza College for one year.
From 1999 until 2012, Ver was the CEO of MemoryDealers.com, an online business that sold networking equipment. In 2000, he ran for the California State Assembly as a Libertarian Party candidate. During his campaign, he strongly criticized federal law enforcement agencies, referring to the ATF and FBI as "jack-booted thugs and murderers" for their role in the Waco Siege.
Ver began investing in bitcoin in early 2011 when a single Bitcoin cost around $1 each. His first investment was in Charlie Shrem’s Bitinstant, which allowed the company to hire its first designer and programmer.
He went on to invest over $1 million in early Bitcoin startups, including Ripple (XRP), where he was a co-founder and the second person ever involved after Jed McCaleb, Blockchain.com also as a co-founder, first investor, and second person ever involved after Ben Reeves, BitPay providing its initial seed funding, and Kraken as the seed investor.
In 2011, Ver's company MemoryDealers became the first established business in the world to accept Bitcoin as payment. Also, in this same year he co-founded the Silicon Valley Bitcoin Meetup, one of the earliest Bitcoin meetup groups worldwide, helping to organize events and expand awareness. In mid-2011, during Bitcoin's first major price crash, Ver and Jesse Powell assisted Mt. Gox with operational issues, helping the company to navigate technical and business challenges. Ver began paying for national radio Bitcoin advertisements on the libertarian radio show Free Talk Live, which was aired on more than 100 radio stations. Ver additionally paid for the world's first Bitcoin billboard advertisement. It was posted along one of the busiest expressways in Silicon Valley. Lastly, in 2011, Ver made his public "Bitcoin Bet" that Bitcoin would outperform gold, silver, platinum, and the US stock market by over one hundred times over the next two years.
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Roger Ver
Roger Keith Ver (born 1979) is an entrepreneur best known as the first investor in Bitcoin and the Bitcoin ecosystem. He was an early promoter of Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related startups and is sometimes known as "Bitcoin Jesus" for his evangelism of cryptocurrency in its early days.
While Ver has often been associated with Bitcoin Cash, he has consistently emphasized that he supports any cryptocurrency that functions as "peer-to-peer cash", as originally cited in the Bitcoin whitepaper authored by Satoshi Nakamoto. He previously was CEO of Bitcoin.com, later becoming its Executive Chairman.
In 2014, he renounced his United States citizenship after obtaining citizenship in Saint Kitts and Nevis. In 2024, he was indicted for tax fraud but eventually settled the case with the IRS and was not pursued criminally.
Ver was born in 1979 in San Jose, California. He attended Valley Christian High School and then De Anza College for one year.
From 1999 until 2012, Ver was the CEO of MemoryDealers.com, an online business that sold networking equipment. In 2000, he ran for the California State Assembly as a Libertarian Party candidate. During his campaign, he strongly criticized federal law enforcement agencies, referring to the ATF and FBI as "jack-booted thugs and murderers" for their role in the Waco Siege.
Ver began investing in bitcoin in early 2011 when a single Bitcoin cost around $1 each. His first investment was in Charlie Shrem’s Bitinstant, which allowed the company to hire its first designer and programmer.
He went on to invest over $1 million in early Bitcoin startups, including Ripple (XRP), where he was a co-founder and the second person ever involved after Jed McCaleb, Blockchain.com also as a co-founder, first investor, and second person ever involved after Ben Reeves, BitPay providing its initial seed funding, and Kraken as the seed investor.
In 2011, Ver's company MemoryDealers became the first established business in the world to accept Bitcoin as payment. Also, in this same year he co-founded the Silicon Valley Bitcoin Meetup, one of the earliest Bitcoin meetup groups worldwide, helping to organize events and expand awareness. In mid-2011, during Bitcoin's first major price crash, Ver and Jesse Powell assisted Mt. Gox with operational issues, helping the company to navigate technical and business challenges. Ver began paying for national radio Bitcoin advertisements on the libertarian radio show Free Talk Live, which was aired on more than 100 radio stations. Ver additionally paid for the world's first Bitcoin billboard advertisement. It was posted along one of the busiest expressways in Silicon Valley. Lastly, in 2011, Ver made his public "Bitcoin Bet" that Bitcoin would outperform gold, silver, platinum, and the US stock market by over one hundred times over the next two years.
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