The net worth of Roger Ver is estimated to be around $450 million. His early advocacy for Bitcoin earned him the sobriquet “Bitcoin Jesus.” Aside from his advocacy, he is regarded as a controversial figure among cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Meanwhile, the net worth of Roger Ver was aided by his early investment in Bitcoin. Also, he invested in other crypto projects like Kraken, purse.io, Blockchain.com, bitcoinstore.com, and Ripple.
However, he’s popular for his stint with Bitcoin.com. Roger Ver is also known for some of his philanthropy deeds. In late 2013, Roger Ver contributed more than $1 million worth of Bitcoin to a Libertarian Think Tank group identified as the Foundation for Economic Education. More so, he donated another $2 million to the group in 2021.
Despite his good deeds, Roger Ver has been the subject of top-profile controversies. In 2002, he was convicted of a one-count charge for selling explosives as fireworks on eBay. According to a court ruling, he was sentenced to ten (10) months in prison. Likewise, he was involved in some loan controversies with crypto firms like CoinFLEX and Genesis on separate occasions.
Roger Ver’s Net Worth
| Year | Net Worth |
|---|---|
| 2023 | $450 million |
Early Life
Roger Keith Ver was birthed on January 27, 1979. He grew up in San Jose, California and attended a community college in Cupertino. There, he studied Economics, Maths, and Astronomy. He graduated from the college in 1997 before moving to Stanford University to study Physics. At one point, he stopped his education to focus more on business. Then, he referred to himself as a libertarian, anarcho-capitalist, voluntaryist, peace advocate, and advocate for individualism.
During that period, he founded Memorydealers. The firm focused on reselling Cisco-related memory and networking equipment, transceivers, and accessories. He managed the firm as its CEO for more than ten (10) years. The organization boasts of possessing state-of-the-art Distribution Centers. It provides products that offer fast access to vital information, and prompt responses to inquiries from customers. Roger Ver incorporated Bitcoin payment into Memorydealers after learning about the token in 2011.
It is worth mentioning that he stopped serving as the CEO of MemoryDealers.com from 2012. However, he listed that he ended his relationship with the organization in 2018. Meanwhile, in 2000, he moved to venture into politics. Then, he ran as the Libertarian Party candidate for the California State Assembly. During a debate in the run-up to the election, Roger Ver made a controversial statement. He claimed that the drug enforcement agency was criminal in its practice.
Between 2004 to 2018, he founded Agilestar.com, a prominent fiber optic transceiver. Around 2005, Roger Ver relocated to Japan which served as his place of residence as of 2021. During an interview in 2016, Roger Ver said Brazilian jiu-jitsu was one of his major passions in life. At one point, he competed in the BJJ world championships and achieved the rank of brown belt. In 2018, he was listed thirty-six (36) in Fortune’s “The Ledger 40 under 40” for transforming business at the leading edge of finance and technology.
In 2012, Roger Ver organized a Bitcoin meetup in Sunnyvale, California. During the event, he founded the Bitcoin Foundation alongside four other founders. The idea behind the foundation is to equip Bitcoin with the resources to rival top fiat currencies. In 2015, Roger Ver began his stint with Bitcoin.com. During his time with the firm, he served as the CEO of Bitcoin.com. Then, he managed the day-to-day operations of the organization. However, in August 2019, he left his position as the CEO of the organization to become the executive chairman.
Conviction
In 2002, Roger Ver pleaded guilty to selling explosive items on eBay without proper certification. He was charged with an allegation that included illegal storage and mailing of these firearms. According to the investigation, Roger Ver sold about 14 pounds of so-called firecrackers known as “Pest Control Report 2000.” Also, findings indicated that he stored them in a residential apartment building and mailed them to his clients through the U.S. Postal Service.
He was sentenced to a reduced jail term of ten (10) months in federal prison. The sentence was handed down by the U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel. Likewise, he was fined $2,000, including a three-year period of supervised release. Roger Ver began serving the jail term on August 2, 2002. Years after his release, Roger Ver spoke about his ordeal at the federal prison. In 2018, he posted a video on YouTube, titled “My Story of Being Tortured in Prison.”
Controversy
Over the years, Roger Ver has been a subject of numerous controversies and issues. One of the issues he had was against Wikipedia editors over a section of his page. The whole saga started in 2015 when U.S. officials refused to grant him entry to speak at a Bitcoin conference in Miami. The editors alleged that Roger Ver does not have strong ties to his new country, hence his denial from entering. They added that the officials were concerned that he could become an illegal immigrant.
In his response, Roger Ver described the report as completely inaccurate. He argued that he was denied a visa because “I hadn’t shown ties outside of the USA to ANY country that would motivate me to leave the USA at the end of my trip.” He emphasized that the law doesn’t require that the ties have to be to a specific country, accusing embassy officials of turning deaf ears to the evidence he provided.
Earlier, Roger Ver renounced his United States citizenship. This was after he became a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Due to that, he was denied a visa to return to the United States by the U.S. embassy in Barbados. The embassy disclosed that Roger Ver didn’t sufficiently prove that his ties outside of the United States would motivate him to leave at the end of his visit. Due to that, they alleged that he could become an illegal immigrant. Similarly, In 2019, Ver was denied a visa to travel to Australia.
Another controversy involving Roger Ver dominated the airspace in 2016 after he filed a lawsuit against OKEX fintech company over an alleged 57 monthly revenue payment. The lawsuit surfaced from what Roger Ver referred to as a breach of contract. In 2014, OKEX signed an agreement with Roger Ver to help manage Bitcoin.com’s website on his behalf. As revealed by Roger Ver, OKEX agreed to redesign the website and help with search engine optimization and advertising plans. Then, there was a purported agreement that the management would run for five (5) years. During this period, the two firms would split revenues from Bitcoin.com evenly.
However, Roger Ver alleged that OKEX only remitted a part of the revenue for just four (4) months. He attempted to solve the issue with the firm without any legal battle. Despite numerous attempts, the two parties failed to reach an agreement. Consequently, Roger Ver approached the court to seek redress. He demanded that OKEX pay $10,000 monthly for the remaining fifty-seven (57) months.
During the legal proceeding, Roger Ver alleged that OKEX provided a different document. He accused the Fintech company of including different agreements in the duplicated document. Despite his efforts, the court refused to take the issue seriously owing to the emerging status of Bitcoin then.
Roger Ver also became a subject of controversy in the same year after his Reddit account was suspended for Doxing Bitcoin Forum owner Theymos. Though, the major reason behind the suspension was unknown at first. However, findings indicated that he was suspended by the moderator of the platform. It was thereafter that emerging pointers surfaced that Roger Ver could have been suspended for doxing Theymos. Doxing during that period attracts suspension from the platform.
In June 2022, Roger Ver was dragged CoinFLEX for allegedly refusing the pay back his loan. CoinFLEX is a crypto trading platform that was affected during the general insolvency issue that rocked most crypto firms during that time. Then, CoinFLEX froze withdrawals on its platform due to a liquidity crunch. The CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange, Mark Lamb, dragged Roger Ver, describing him as one of the architects of the firm’s financial struggle. In a tweet, the CEO revealed that Roger Ver owed the crypto exchange $47 million USDC. He went on to disclose that the firm contacted the Bitcoin evangelist to address the issue, but the effort proved abortive.
Roger Ver owes CoinFLEX $47 Million USDC. We have a written contract with him obligating him to personally guarantee any negative equity on his CoinFLEX account and top up margin regularly. He has been in default of this agreement and we have served a notice of default.
— Mark Lamb (@MarkDavidLamb) June 28, 2022
Meanwhile, Roger Ver denied the allegations. In a separate tweet, he argued that the loan had no connection to him. Surprisingly, Ver said it was CoinFLEX that owe him some money which he was trying to retrieve from the cryptocurrency exchange. This response sparked an outrageous reply from Mark Lamb who referred to Roger Ver’s statement as an attempt to “deflect from his liabilities and responsibilities.”
Recently some rumors have been
spreading that I have defaulted on a
debt to a counter-party. These rumors
are false. Not only do I not have a debt
to this counter-party, but this counter-
party owes me a substantial sum of
money, and I am currently seeking the
return of my funds.— Roger Ver (@rogerkver) June 28, 2022
Initially, the cryptocurrency exchange didn’t have the intention of revealing Roger Ver’s identity. While the CEO, Mark Lamb was discussing the firm’s financial crisis, he referred to Roger Ver as “a certain high-net-worth individual.” Instead, CoinFLEX intended to realize the loan through the sale of the “Recovery Value USD” (rvUSD) token.
Meanwhile, CoinFLEX is not the only crypto firm that had accused Roger Ver of loans default. In early 2023, Genesis Global said he owed $20.9 after failing to settle crypto options trading. Responding to the allegation, Ver argued that he had enough money to settle the debt but refused to do that. He cited how the struggling crypto lender failed to disclose its financial position which was part of the agreement for payment. The Bitcoin advocate stated that the agreement mandated that Genesis Global remains solvent. He said he opted against making the payment because of the firm’s refusal to honor the agreement.
He went on to establish that he would be happy to pay if Genesis Global had remained solvent. Roger Ver recalled how he requested for the financial records of the crypto lender in June 2023. He established that Genesis Global, instead, provided him with questionable reports. More so, Roger Ver said he then requested for more clarification but the crypto lender responded with a lawsuit.
Is Roger Ver Pro Crypto?
Despite the numerous controversies surrounding the personality of Roger Ver, he is still one of the most revered in the crypto industry. The former Bitcoin.com CEO has been a strong supporter of cryptocurrency, particularly Bitcoin since its early days. He was exposed to Bitcoin in 2011 after reading its whitepaper. In one of his interviews, the millionaire reflected on his early interest in Bitcoin.
According to him, his prison experience made him a Bitcoin believer. One might begin to wonder how. During his time at the prison, he had ample time to improve his reading skill. So, when Ver had his first encounter with Bitcoin, he was very curious about what it entails. He picked interest in the crypto after realizing its potential through the whitepaper document. Although Bitcoin was unpopular at that time, Ver still saw it as one of the most important inventions in the history of man.
Since 2011, Ver showed appreciable commitment and effort toward spreading the gospel of Bitcoin. His aim was to ensure that the crypto attains the same status as major fiats. He leveraged his vast social media accounts to consistently evangelize Bitcoin, converting people into the world of cryptocurrency. At that time, a lot of people felt it was unwise to invest in Bitcoin. In a bid to prove them wrong, he organized Bitcoin meetups in Sunnyvale. Also, Ver co-founded Bitcoin Foundation with four others to promote the popularity and reputation of the crypto. His contributions towards this initiative earned him the nickname, ”Bitcoin Jesus.”
In an interview with a popular publication, Zer reflected on the nickname, stressing that “I believe Peter Vessenes [chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation] gave me the title when we were at a BBQ together. I was explaining bitcoin to about two dozen high school kids. The kids were all enthralled by bitcoin and hanging on my every word. Peter then commented that ‘it’s like you are a Bitcoin Jesus, and you have all your disciples around you.”
Occasioned by his confidence in the future of Bitcoin, Ver ensured that his firm, Memorydealers was the first to accept the token for payment. Many were surprised by this decision to integrate Bitcoin payment into the firm. This was because of the market value of the crypto as at that time. But, the former Bitcoin.com CEO did not allow people’s reactions to foil the execution of his decision with Memorydealers.
More so, he made a bet for $10,000 that Bitcoin would outperform Gold, Silver and Stocks by more than an hundred percent in the next two and a half years. Ver initiated the bet in 2011 at a time $10,000 was worth 1000 BTC. However, following the 2013 Bitcoin bull run, the value of the bet surprisingly rose to $1 million. Bitcoin failed to outperform Gold, Silver, and Stocks by a hundred percent within the specified period, thereby allowing Ver to lose his funds. As stipulated in the bet, the former Bitcoin.com CEO was forced to donate the 1,000 BTC to the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). He said it was the organization that “published the books and articles that allowed me to understand just how important Bitcoin would become.”
He deepened his engagement in the industry in 2015 after he resolved to manage Bitcoin.com, a notable web portal that provides easy access to Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash. Zer’s aim was to leverage the platform to provide seamless access to Bitcoin offerings, thereby fostering its adoption. Today, the site boasts of over nine million visitors per month. Zer believes Bitcoin fosters economic freedom and fight inflation. He was once quoted saying; “If the world’s using bitcoin, governments won’t be able to fund wars through inflation like they do today.”
Over the years, Roger Ver featured in numerous Bitcoin books and documentaries geared toward fostering crypto education and popularity. Some of these include “The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin,” “Bitcoin, The End of Money as We Know It,” “The Bitcoin Gospel,” “Digital Gold,” and many more. However, Ver’s honeymoon with Bitcoin ended in 2017 after he accused developers of destroying its use as money.
Ver was very concerned about the development and resolved to push for an increase in the block size limit. He believed such would enable users to make their transaction fees in Bitcoin and reduce the cost. Despite the fact that majority of developers opposed the move, the Bitcoin.com former CEO was able to have his way. A hard fork was conducted on the network. Around August 2017, Bitcoin split and Bitcoin Cash came into life.
Following the launch of Bitcoin Cash, Ver dumped his favorite crypto, Bitcoin. Justifying his decision to pitch his tent to Bitcoin Cash, the millionaire said the token is more usable than Bitcoin because it enables direct transfers without the use of a cash app and high fees. He lamented how Bitcoin charges ridiculous fees for a small transaction orchestrated by users. His new love, Bitcoin Cash, is reported to be faster and charges fewer fees on transactions. Till today, Ver has continued to engage in Bitcoin vs Bitcoin Cash debate, affirming the latter’s dominance over the former in terms of utility.
In one of the debates, he said, “I used to think it was the government and regulators who would try to make it difficult for people to use it, and that is still a threat, but the people in cryptocurrency are also a threat. We’ve seen over and over just how hard it is to scale a blockchain project so that it can actually be used by people around the world. A lot of people have their own ideas about what Bitcoin should be, and these are totally different than what Satoshi Nakamoto wanted or what got so many people like me excited about Bitcoin to begin with. So we see today projects like Bitcoin and Ethereum that are experiencing unsustainable transaction fee levels that are going to push people onto custodial services or keep them out of the cryptocurrency economy altogether.”
He added; “That’s the big threat, I think—that we never get a project that is actually allowed to grow without being rate limited by the people involved. Cryptocurrency can’t help people be more free if they can’t use it. Fortunately, Bitcoin Cash is one of the few projects working towards solving that, and anyone in the world can send any amount of money for less than a penny.”
Crypto and NFT Holdings of Roger Ver
Beyond being a vocal advocate, Roger Ver has a very huge crypto portfolio. Although, he is yet to publicly declare his personal crypto investment, credible sources have provided insights into it. According to our findings, Roger Ver boosted his net worth through his investment in crypto assets, particularly in their early days. Reportedly, he holds Bitcoin Cash and a few other cryptocurrencies as of January, 2023.
At the moment, there are no indications that Ver still holds BTC. Initially, he was one of the earliest investors in the token. The millionaire was reported to have invested millions of dollars into buying BTC at that time. However, he sold the crypto to buy Bitcoin Cash in 2017.
Before selling his Bitcoin holdings, it is certain that he must have made big proceeds from the investment. This is not unconnected to the fact that BTC spiked massively within the past few years, translating into huge gains for those who invested in it since 2011. By virtue of this, we can say for sure that Roger Ver built his net worth through the Bitcoin proceeds. Although, he has sold all his Bitcoin holdings, we can still regard him as a rich Bitcoin investor because he made a big part of his wealth from the investment. See our list for other rich Bitcoin investors across the globe.
According to our findings, he owns not less than $350,000 in Bitcoin Cash in his portfolio. Recall that he found love in the token after dumping his Bitcoin holdings in 2017. Ver is also bullish about NFTs. According to credible sources, he has at least $50 million worth of investments in digital collectibles.
In the same vein, Roger Ver also aided his current net worth through investments in numerous crypto startups. They include the Ripple blockchain, the BitPay crypto payments platform, Kraken crypto exchange, and many more.
Crypto Projects Featuring Roger Ver
We can still link Roger Ver to Bitcoin, the largest crypto by market cap. This is due to the fact that he is one of the founding members of the Bitcoin Foundation. This foundation is the oldest established Bitcoin advocacy organization in the world. It was established to nurture the development of Bitcoin. So, we can regard Ver as one of the biggest Bitcoin stakeholders.
However, he dissociated from the crypto in 2017, saying that developers have destroyed” its use as money. Around August, Ver and Craig Wright, another Bitcoin developer facilitated the emergence of Bitcoin Cash from Bitcoin. This thus means we can also link Bitcoin Cash to the crypto advocate. But in 2018, the relationship between him and Wright suffered a setback, thereby leading to the splitting of Bitcoin Cash to Bitcoin Cash ABC (BCH) and Bitcoin Cash SV (BSV). Ver is a supporter of the former.
Meanwhile, Roger Ver could soon feature on Wall Street Memes just like other celebrities in the industry. In recent times, the project featured the likes of Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and many others in its exciting memes. By so doing, Wall Street Memes has continued to grow in popularity to the extent that it secured the attention of Elon Musk. Just recently, the project launched the presale of its token, $WSM. As the project continues to overwhelm the meme coin market, investors are rushing to it before it is listed on exchanges. With its massive community backing and endorsement by notable celebrities, $WSM is tipped to join the list of next cryptocurrency to look out for. If you wish to participate in the presale, visit wallstmemes.com.
Roger Ver’s Net Worth – Our Verdict
There is no way we can talk about the historical development of Bitcoin without acknowledging the contributions of Roger Ver. The former Bitcoin.com CEO dedicated a major part of his life to promoting, protecting, and advancing the crypto. Despite the fact that Bitcoin was unpopular in 2011, Ver leveraged his firm, Memorydealers to accept Bitcoin payments. At that time, the token traded as low as $1. This thus speaks volume about his confidence in the potential of the crypto. Without any doubt, his efforts toward the global adoption of Bitcoin earned him the nickname, “Bitcoin Jesus.”
Apart from spreading the gospel of Bitcoin since its early days, Ver was also an investor in the crypto. According to findings, he sold his Lamborghini to buy millions of BTC at the rate of $1 each. He also invested in numerous Bitcoin-oriented startups. These commitments made Roger Ver a multi-millionaire and contributed significantly to his current net worth.
However, Zer has already shifted his focus away from Bitcoin to promote his latest project, Bitcoin Cash. Since 2017, most of his tweets have only been tailored toward promoting Bitcoin Cash, describing it as a better alternative to Bitcoin. People who know him too well and the kind of controversial lifestyle he lives won’t be surprised by his endeavors with Bitcoin Cash.
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FAQs
Why was Roger Ver jailed for ten months?
Roger Ver was jailed for ten months because he sold explosives as fireworks on eBay without certification.
What is the estimated net worth of Roger Ver?
The estimated net worth of Roger Ver is $450 million.
Is Roger Ver among the founding members of Bitcoin Foundation?
Yes. He is one of the five founding members of Bitcoin Foundation, established to support and nurture the development of Bitcoin.
