Roger Ver (born January 27, 1988) is an early Bitcoin investor and entrepreneur widely known as "Bitcoin Jesus" for his zealous promotion of Bitcoin adoption during its earliest years. He was one of the first people to invest in Bitcoin startups, funding companies such as BitInstant, Blockchain.info, Ripple, and Kraken. Ver later became one of the most vocal proponents of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), advocating for larger block sizes as the path to scaling Bitcoin for everyday payments.
Early Life and Career
Ver grew up in San Jose, California. He attended De Anza College and developed an early interest in libertarian politics and free-market economics. Before Bitcoin, he ran MemoryDealers.com, an online computer hardware retailer, which became one of the first businesses in the world to accept Bitcoin as payment in 2011.
Bitcoin Evangelism
Ver discovered Bitcoin in early 2011 and quickly became one of its most passionate advocates. He invested over $1 million into Bitcoin-related startups at a time when the entire ecosystem was nascent and largely unknown. His investments included BitInstant (founded by Charlie Shrem), Blockchain.info (now Blockchain.com), Ripple Labs, and the Kraken exchange.
His tireless promotion of Bitcoin -- including purchasing billboard advertisements, sponsoring Bitcoin meetups, and appearing in media interviews -- earned him the moniker "Bitcoin Jesus." Ver was instrumental in spreading awareness of Bitcoin during its early years and is credited with helping onboard many early adopters.
Bitcoin Cash Advocacy
During the Bitcoin block size debate of 2015-2017, Ver became a vocal supporter of increasing Bitcoin's block size limit to allow more transactions per block. He argued that Bitcoin's original vision, as described in Satoshi Nakamoto's whitepaper, was to serve as peer-to-peer electronic cash, and that keeping blocks small would undermine this purpose.
When Bitcoin Cash (BCH) forked from Bitcoin on August 1, 2017, Ver became its most prominent supporter. He used his platform at Bitcoin.com to promote Bitcoin Cash, at times controversially referring to it as "the real Bitcoin." This position put him at odds with much of the Bitcoin community that supported the development roadmap centered on the Lightning Network and other second-layer scaling solutions.
Legal Issues
In 2024, Ver was indicted by the United States Department of Justice on charges of tax evasion related to his cryptocurrency holdings. The charges alleged that Ver failed to report and pay taxes on significant gains from his early Bitcoin investments. The case drew widespread attention in the cryptocurrency community.
Legacy
Roger Ver remains one of the most polarizing figures in Bitcoin's history. His early investments and promotion were instrumental in Bitcoin's growth during its formative years, while his later advocacy for Bitcoin Cash made him a divisive figure within the broader community. Regardless of one's position on the block size debate, Ver's role as one of Bitcoin's earliest and most energetic evangelists is well documented.