Roger Ver's Crypto Portfolio: Exploring His Investments

Roger Ver is a well-known figure in the cryptocurrency world, often referred to as Bitcoin Jesus due to his early and vocal support for Bitcoin. Ver was born in California and is now a resident of Japan. He is known for his libertarian views and has had brushes with government authorities, which has made him a somewhat controversial figure. Ver was an early investor in Bitcoin and related startups, including Blockchain.com, BitPay, and Kraken. He was also the former CEO of Bitcoin.com and is a strong advocate for Bitcoin Cash, which he claims is truer to the original Bitcoin ideals. Ver's exact net worth is hard to determine, but it is estimated to be around $430 million, with much of his wealth tied up in rapidly fluctuating cryptocurrencies.

Roger Ver's early Bitcoin investments

Roger Ver is a pioneering figure in the cryptocurrency industry. He is an early investor in Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related startups and an early promoter of Bitcoin, earning him the nickname "Bitcoin Jesus".

Ver started investing in Bitcoin around 2011 when the price was still under one US dollar each. He was introduced to Bitcoin by Mark Edge, who talked about the new digital asset on Free Talk Live. Ver was so intrigued that he reached out to Free Talk Live to change his advertising package, opting to advertise Bitcoin instead of his company, MemoryDealers.com.

Ver's early investments in Bitcoin-related startups include over a million dollars in companies such as Ripple, Blockchain.com, BitPay, and Kraken. In 2011, his company MemoryDealers became the first to accept Bitcoin as payment. Ver has also been involved in several Bitcoin hard forks, such as Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin TX, due to their offerings of larger block sizes.

In addition to his investments, Ver has played a significant role in the Bitcoin community. He was one of the founders of the Bitcoin Foundation in 2012, a nonprofit organisation aiming to restore the reputation of Bitcoin and promote its adoption worldwide. Ver has also organised Bitcoin meetups and advocated for Bitcoin's potential to rival major fiat currencies.

Ver's transition to Bitcoin Cash

Roger Ver is a well-known figure in the cryptocurrency world, with his early and vocal support of Bitcoin earning him the nickname "Bitcoin Jesus". However, in recent years, Ver's opinions and investments have become more controversial, particularly his transition from Bitcoin to Bitcoin Cash.

Ver was born in 1979 and grew up in San Jose, California. He attended De Anza College, a community college in Cupertino, and later studied physics at Stanford University. While in college, he started a company called Memorydealers, which resold Cisco-related memory and networking equipment. He dropped out of college to run the business, serving as its CEO for over a decade.

Ver claims to have discovered Bitcoin in early 2011, calling it "one of the most important inventions in the history of humankind". He was an early adopter and integrated Bitcoin payments into Memorydealers.com, allowing customers to transact in Bitcoin. By collecting Bitcoin in its early days when each coin was valued at under $1, Ver amassed a significant collection. He also spread the word about Bitcoin and likely reduced his collection through payments and funding projects.

In addition to his early interest in Bitcoin, Ver has been involved in a variety of crypto and blockchain projects. He was an early investor in several related startups, including Kraken, purse.io, Blockchain.com, and Ripple. In 2012, he launched Bitcoinstore.com, offering thousands of items for sale and allowing customers to transact in Bitcoin.

In 2015, Ver began managing Bitcoin.com, a web portal that provides services for Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. He served as CEO until August 2019, when he transitioned to Executive Chairman. It was around this time that Ver's views on Bitcoin seemed to shift. In a 2017 interview, he expressed concern about the future of the cryptocurrency, believing that too much speculative interest would hinder its viability as a currency. He also felt that the developers had damaged its use as money.

Ver advocated for a hard fork, a radical change to a network's protocol, and pushed for an increase in the block size limit. He believed this would allow customers to pay for goods and services in Bitcoin while reducing fees. However, detractors argued that such a step could disrupt the decentralization of Bitcoin and negatively impact transaction processing.

Ver's support for a hard fork aligned with the creation of Bitcoin Cash in August 2017. This new cryptocurrency was the result of a split within the Bitcoin community. One group wanted Bitcoin to remain a simple store of value, while another group, including Ver, favoured developing Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer transaction vehicle with larger block sizes to hold more transactions. Ver now seems to have become a strong advocate for Bitcoin Cash, believing it to be truer to the original Bitcoin ideals. He has praised its faster transactions and lower fees, and has even suggested that alleged insider trading of Bitcoin Cash is a "non-crime".

Despite his transition to Bitcoin Cash, Ver's exact net worth is hard to determine as much of his wealth is tied up in rapidly fluctuating cryptocurrencies. Estimates place it around $430 million, though some sources put it as high as $520 million. Ver's libertarian views, brushes with government authorities, and ongoing citizenship and visa issues further contribute to his controversial reputation.

His investments in blockchain startups

Roger Ver is a prominent investor in blockchain startups. He is known as "Bitcoin Jesus" for his early and vocal advocacy of Bitcoin and has been involved in several Bitcoin-related projects. Ver started investing in Bitcoin in 2011 when the price was under $1. He has since invested in numerous blockchain startups, including Ripple, Blockchain.com, BitPay, and Kraken. In addition, he has founded and managed several companies in the crypto space, including Bitcoin.com, which he led as CEO until 2019.

Ver's support for blockchain and cryptocurrency extends beyond his investments. In 2012, he launched Bitcoinstore.com, a platform that allowed users to purchase consumer products with Bitcoin. He was also one of the founders of the Bitcoin Foundation, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to promoting and restoring the reputation of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Ver has also been an advocate for increasing the block size limit for the Bitcoin blockchain, believing that it would facilitate the use of Bitcoin for everyday transactions and reduce fees.

Ver's investments in blockchain startups have been significant. He invested $1 million in Blockchain-related startups in their early stages, including Ripple, Blockchain.com, BitPay, and Kraken. These investments helped these projects gain traction and contributed to the development of the blockchain ecosystem.

In addition to his investments in blockchain startups, Ver has also been involved in other crypto-related projects. He was an early investor in BitInstant, a company founded by Bitcoin millionaire Charlie Shrem. Ver's investment allowed the company to hire additional talent and contributed to its growth.

Roger Ver's investments in blockchain startups have played a pivotal role in shaping the industry. His early support for Bitcoin and related projects, coupled with his advocacy for economic freedom through cryptocurrency, has earned him a prominent position in the blockchain and crypto communities.

Ver's controversial reputation

Roger Ver is a controversial figure in the cryptocurrency space. Known as "Bitcoin Jesus", he is an early investor in Bitcoin, Bitcoin-related startups, and an early promoter of Bitcoin. He is also a prominent supporter of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which he sees as fulfilling the original purpose of the "Bitcoin White Paper" published by Satoshi Nakamoto.

Secondly, Ver has been criticised for his role in promoting initial coin offerings (ICOs). In 2019, he endorsed blockchain startup LivenPay as an 'official advisor', despite the company's ICO being met with scepticism and accusations of being a scam. Ver has also been associated with other controversial projects, such as Qtum, whose project lead was involved in a scam under a fake name.

Additionally, Ver's website Bitcoin.com listed Bitcoin Cash (BCH) as the real Bitcoin (BTC), a move that was criticised by many in the crypto community. In 2021, Ver was also accused of attempting to crowd-bribe a public officer using BCH.

Beyond the crypto space, Ver has a controversial past that includes a felony conviction for selling explosive materials without a license and illegally storing and mailing them. He served 10 months in prison and later renounced his US citizenship, obtaining citizenship in Saint Kitts and Nevis. In 2024, he was indicted for income tax evasion in the US and arrested in Spain.

His libertarian views

Roger Ver is a libertarian, anarcho-capitalist, voluntaryist, peace advocate, and individualist. He identifies with the libertarian values of freedom from state control and free-market capitalism. Ver attempted to run for the California State Assembly with the Libertarian Party in 2000, but was unsuccessful.

Ver has been a vocal supporter of Bitcoin since he began investing in it in 2011, seeing it as a means to promote economic freedom. He has also been involved in several Bitcoin-related startups, including Ripple, Blockchain.com, BitPay, and Kraken. Ver believes that Bitcoin can rival major fiat currencies. He is also a proponent of Bitcoin Cash, which he sees as fulfilling the original purpose of Bitcoin as outlined in the "Bitcoin White Paper", published by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. In this paper, Nakamoto described Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.

Ver's libertarian views have led him to take direct action to establish a new libertarian country. Along with the Free Society Foundation, he has raised $100 million to purchase sovereignty over a piece of land from another country. The team intends to establish an independent nation, governed by libertarian values, where those who reject government control can gather and promote a truly free society. The location of this new nation has not yet been disclosed, but it is rumoured to be in proximity to economic centres in the US, Europe, and Asia, and accessible by water.

In his book, "Hijacking Bitcoin", Ver exposes the corruption and centralization that have plagued the cryptocurrency, which was initially hailed as a liberating technology. He reveals years of censorship and social media manipulation, setting the historical record straight for anyone interested in the true story of Bitcoin.

Frequently asked questions