Roger Ver, the crypto entrepreneur higher referred to as “Bitcoin Jesus” attributable to his position because the promoter and the primary investor of Bitcoin, has paid practically $50 million to the Inner Income Service (IRS), as a settlement to a tax evasion case with the U.S. Division of Justice (DOJ), and to keep away from prosecution.
The case was booked in opposition to Ver by the DOJ in April 2024 when the division discovered that he did not report his 131,000 Bitcoin holdings to the authorities. The DOJ alleged that he underreported his belongings when he renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2014, primarily to keep away from the “exit tax” imposed on high-net-worth people leaving U.S. citizenship.
He was later arrested in Spain, with the fees of tax evasion, mail fraud, and submitting false tax returns. U.S. authorities requested his switch to the U.S. to face the trial on eight felony prices, however he finally reached a deferred prosecution settlement with the DOJ, paying the $50 million.
Roger Ver, the Evangelistic Bitcoin Jesus in Crypto Area
Roger Ver began investing in Bitcoin in 2011, simply inside a yr of its inception. He additionally went on to spend money on different cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based startups. He’s additionally the co-founder of varied platforms, together with MemoryDealers.com, Blockchain.com, and Bitcoin.com.
Roger is well-known for his Bitcoin activism and maximalism, and is actively engaged with the present pro-crypto Trump administration of the U.S, regardless of his renunciation of citizenship. The renunciation was attributable to ideological opposition to the then-U.S. authorities. He’s now holding citizenship in international locations similar to Saint Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda.
Roger Ver’s Deferred Prosecution Settlement Alerts a Shift in U.S. Crypto Enforcement
Following the arrival of the pro-crypto authorities led by Donald Trump, varied strict crypto-based guidelines have remodeled right into a liberal milieu. Roger Ver’s case, which resulted in an settlement as a substitute of giving him a jail time period, is the newest addition to the change within the crypto panorama.
Silk Highway’s alleged founder Ross Ulbricht, aka “Dread Pirate Roberts”, who was sentenced to life in jail in 2015 because of the prices in opposition to him, together with facilitating over $200 million value of illicit commerce utilizing Bitcoin, was granted a full pardon by Trump final Could.
Much like Roger Ver, Ulbricht additionally emphasizes particular person freedom and decentralization. “We will argue, however by no means see one another as enemies. Those that oppose decentralization and freedom thrive on our division. Keep united,” he said on the Bitcoin 2025 convention held in Las Vegas.
