Roger Ver: The Contradictory Life of a Bitcoin Believer

In the world of encryption, the name Roger Ver always carries weight. He was once the most fervent evangelist of Bitcoin, but was scorned by the community for promoting BCH; he invested in star projects like Bitpay and Kraken, yet frequently found himself embroiled in controversy. Is this person a genius or a fraud?

From Silicon Valley Teen to Bitcoin Believer

Born in Silicon Valley in 1979, Ver did not come into the world with a golden key. His father was an engineer, which gave Ver a natural affinity for technology from a young age. After high school, he did not attend college and directly founded MemoryDealers (a computer parts store), making his first pot of gold from this business in the late 1990s.

The turning point came in 2011. Ver discovered Bitcoin and saw the power of decentralization. As a believer in liberalism, he fell in love with Bitcoin's promise at first sight - no need for banks, no need for governments, just peer-to-peer transfers. It was simply tailor-made for him.

The Era of “Bitcoin Jesus”

Ver is not just about buying coins; he is one of the earliest and most aggressive investors and promoters of Bitcoin. BitInstant, Blockchain.com, Kraken… his investment portfolio nearly covers half of the Bitcoin ecosystem.

More importantly, he founded Bitcoin.com, using the site as a pulpit for evangelism. He also established the Bitcoin Store - one of the first e-commerce platforms to enable shopping with Bitcoin. Ver embodies the idea that “Bitcoin is not a speculation, it is the future.” At that time, the media began calling him “Bitcoin Jesus,” a title he embraced.

Controversial Past

But Ver's story is never clean. In 2002, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for selling firecrackers on eBay (packaged as “pest control products”). This experience deepened his hatred for government power.

In the encryption community, he is not known for his good temper either. He was accused of promoting risky ICOs to scam beginners and made an obscene gesture during a television interview. These actions have made him quite a few enemies.

BCH Fork: Belief or Obsession?

2017 was a watershed year. The Bitcoin scaling debate intensified: one faction advocated for Segregated Witness (SegWit), while Ver and others argued for larger blocks. Ver believes that Bitcoin should be electronic cash, in line with the intentions of Satoshi Nakamoto's white paper.

In August, the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) hard fork was successful. Ver turned Bitcoin.com into a BCH platform and even rebranded it to promote BCH alongside BTC. The community was in an uproar—accusing him of misleading newcomers with the traffic from Bitcoin.com by selling BCH as the “real Bitcoin.”

He took this step too aggressively. From a Bitcoin believer to a BCH believer, Ver lost a large number of supporters, gaining more enemies in return.

In recent years, the figure has been wavering

In recent years, Ver's presence has diminished. In 2023, he got embroiled in a lawsuit (for unpaid encryption option fees) and denied owing Binance 47 million USDC. He even stated in a podcast that Ethereum, rather than Bitcoin, is the ticket for newcomers to encryption — such comments sound like betrayal to his loyal fans.

Some say he has disappeared; others say he is planning some new project. The truth is unknown.

What to leave?

Ver is contradictory. He indeed promoted early adoption of Bitcoin, and the projects he invested in have created today's ecosystem. But the BCH dispute proves: passion can turn into obsession, and belief can become stubbornness.

His story enlightens us that the greatest risk in the encryption world is often not the technical risk, but human nature. A person can transform from a savior to a controversial figure with just a sufficiently strong belief and a sufficiently stubborn temper.