Roger Ver: US Intelligence “Hijacked” Bitcoin, Turned It Into “Financial Trap”

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Veronika Rinecker

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Veronika Rinecker

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Veronika Rinecker is based in Germany and studied international journalism and media management. She specializes in reporting on topics such as politics and regulation, energy, blockchain, and...

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December 11, 2024

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Bitcoin.com founder Roger Ver, widely known as “Bitcoin Jesus,” has criticized how Bitcoin (BTC) has been turned into a speculative asset.

According to Ver, early hopes for the leading cryptocurrency as an alternative to fiat currency were undermined by a combination of intelligence agencies and institutional players.

Bitcoin: From P2P Freedom to Financial Surveillance?

In his interview with Tucker Carlson, published on Dec. 10, Roger Ver said that US intelligence agencies deliberately undermined Bitcoin’s potential as a widespread peer-to-peer (P2P) payment method.

According to Ver, they manipulated online forums like bitcointalk.org and the Bitcoin subreddit r/bitcoin through censorship and propaganda to steer it away from its decentralized origins.

Moderators associated with US intelligence agencies sought to suppress discussions about scaling Bitcoin for use on a global level, Ver said, pushing it towards becoming a speculative asset instead. This was a coordinated effort to control and limit Bitcoin’s potential to disrupt traditional financial systems, according to Ver.

When asked by Carlson if he believed Bitcoin was a creation of US intelligence agencies, Ver said that while it may not have been originally designed as such, it was “hijacked” and turned into a “financial trap” by those agencies.

“I’m Embarrassed To Promote Bitcoin to People”

According to Ver, Bitcoin is not about economic freedom, especially when Bitcoin is held on centralized exchanges (CEXs), which Ver believes provide even less privacy than traditional banks.

“I’m embarrassed to promote Bitcoin to people today because the transactions are slow, expensive, unreliable, and you have no privacy. People are claiming that Bitcoin is freedom money, but I’m really afraid that they’re literally building the financial prison walls around themselves.”

He pointed to El Salvador as an example, noting that while there was widespread enthusiasm for Bitcoin, people were primarily using custodial accounts. This meant the government could monitor every transaction and freeze accounts at will. “This is the exact opposite of economic freedom. It’s economic government control,” Ver said.

In the interview with Carlson, Ver advocated for privacy-focused coins like Monero or Zcash as well as Zano, which Layer-1 allows users to create their own private tokens. He also mentioned Confidential Layer, a project that bridges Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Ether (ETH) with Zano.

Ver believes that by enabling financial autonomy, these tools limit government overreach and the funding of war or violence. He acknowledges the risk of facing trumped up charges, but remains defiant in promoting financial freedom, adding:

“I’m not against the US dollar or the yen or the euro. I think people should be able to choose what form of money they want to use. Whether it’s the dollar, the euro, the yen, or Bitcoin or some other cryptocurrency out there.”

Roger Ver Faces Extradition and 109 Years in Prison

Roger Ver could face 109 years in prison. US authorities are seeking his extradition from Spain on charges of tax evasion, which Ver denied in the interview.

Roger Ver is facing life in prison for revealing how the US government worked secretly to subvert cryptocurrency and prevent economic freedom. More people should hear this story.

(0:00) Roger Ver Facing Extradition
(7:49) The Hijacking of Bitcoin
(12:18) How the Government… pic.twitter.com/nchtsmsovn

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) December 10, 2024

Ver renounced his US citizenship in 2014, becoming a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis. He said that he adhered to his tax obligations with the guidance of legal counsel and was not a US citizen during the period in question.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) accuses Roger Ver of failing to report substantial capital gains from Bitcoin sales and undervaluing two companies when he renounced his US citizenship in 2014.

Prosecutors claim Ver hid 131,000 Bitcoins, sold in 2017 for approximately $240 million, resulting in $48 million of unpaid taxes.

Ver’s defense argues that the DOJ’s claims are based on outdated information and unclear cryptocurrency tax laws at the time. US prosecutors improperly used confidential communications and violated his legal rights, Ver said, adding:

“They’re not really angry about taxes at all. I think they’re just angry about my lack of obedience and lack of kissing that ring. I was the first person in the entire world to start investing in the Bitcoin ecosystem and investing in businesses that made it easy for people to use Bitcoin as money and as cash for people all over the world.”

Call for a Pardon: Ver Appeals to Biden and Trump

Despite the possibility of life imprisonment, the Bitcoin evangelist remains optimistic. He hopes that the Spanish court will reject the US extradition request.

According to Ver, there are many ways to stop this persecution, but the most effective is to allow the public to speak out. He noted that his supporters have created the website freerogernow.org, which hosts a petition to dismiss the US claims.

Ver added that the current US President Joe Biden recently pardoned his own son, so he could issue a preemptive pardon to Ver himself: “President Biden can do the right thing. He just recently pardoned his own son. He can issue a preemptive pardon for me. Trump, when he gets into office, can issue a preemptive pardon for me as well, and for a bunch of other people that deserve it.”