Vitalik Buterin, Ross Ulbricht, and Tucker Carlson are amongst these urging President Donald Trump to pardon Roger Ver, aka Bitcoin Jesus.
Referred to as Bitcoin Jesus for his early advocacy of Bitcoin, Ver faces as much as 109 years in jail on tax fees, together with allegations of evading $48 million in taxes. Regardless of renouncing his U.S. citizenship in 2014 to keep away from prosecution, Ver’s authorized troubles resurfaced when he was arrested in Spain in 2024. However following the president’s earlier pardons of figures like Ulbricht and BitMEX co-founders, observers wonder if Ver’s would catch a break. Is a pardon on the best way, or will Ver’s authorized troubles proceed?
Learn on for a better look.
Crypto cronies
After Trump embraced cryptocurrency, many crypto leaders rallied to help him by donating funds to his inauguration and hobnobbing at galas.
Trump additionally , which trade brass celebrated.
In return, Trump signed an order to stockpile tokens and swiftly acted in favor of the trade. Below Trump-appointed SEC chair Mark Uyeda, investigations into a number of cryptocurrency firms, together with Immutable, Crypto.com, Ripple, and Coinbase, have been dismissed.
In a notable transfer on Thursday, March 27, Trump pardoned BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed, who had pleaded responsible to federal fees associated to cash laundering and regulatory violations. The trio was convicted for failing to implement anti-money laundering measures at BitMEX, which prosecutors had labeled a “money laundering platform.” Reed had additionally violated the Financial institution Secrecy Act and paid a $10 million positive. However underneath Trump, it appears all is forgiven.
This has sparked hypothesis on whether or not Ver, a distinguished determine within the crypto world, might additionally obtain the identical courtesy.
Ver, a Silicon Valley native with a libertarian streak, was deeply concerned within the early days of cryptocurrency, investing in firms like Kraken, Ripple, and Blockchain.com. In 2017, Ver hyped Bitcoin Money (BCH) as extra appropriate for on a regular basis funds.
Ver’s previous
In 2000, by the age of 20, Ver started to take part in libertarian social gathering debates.
Throughout these debates, he made crucial statements in regards to the brokers of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, calling them “murderers” and referencing their involvement within the scandalous Waco Siege during which dozens of kids have been killed in a standoff between FBI and ATF brokers and Department Davidian cult followers. Ver didn’t know that ATF brokers have been current throughout these debates.
Within the 2000s, Ver grew to become concerned in e-commerce. On high of tech enterprises, Ver was promoting firecrackers on eBay. After promoting unlicensed firecrackers in 2001, he was charged and spent 10 months in jail. The truth that he was locked in jail as an alternative of being fined or notified in regards to the necessity of acquiring a license led Ver to assume that the case was politically motivated and that his criticism of ATF was the true cause behind his prosecution. With out worry of additional persecution, Ver left the U.S. after his post-prison probation ended.
By 2011, Ver realized about Bitcoin and have become considered one of its first traders. He additionally advocated for Bitcoin lengthy earlier than it went mainstream, with multi-million investments and nationwide leaders speaking about its significance for the way forward for their international locations.
The important thing factors of Ver’s advocacy for Bitcoin have been the monetary freedom of people and the stopping of presidency and banks from interfering in individuals’s lives.
The authorized battle
Since February 2014, Ver has been a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis. He claims that he needed to resign his U.S. citizenship after long-lasting focusing on from the U.S. authorities.
In April 2024, he was indicted and arrested in Spain on fees of U.S. tax evasion and mail fraud. Ver is accused of dodging $48 million in taxes after incomes as much as half a billion {dollars} via cryptocurrencies.
In line with prosecutors, Ver didn’t pay his “exit tax” on 131,000 BTC owned by his two firms when he left the U.S. and supplied false data to the legislation companies submitting Ver’s tax returns. Allegedly, he bought his bitcoins in 2017 with out notifying the monetary attorneys.
Ver clarifies that three fees of mail fraud (mixed, punishable by 19 years behind bars) are primarily based on the three letters together with his tax returns he despatched to the Inside Income Service (IRS).
Ver denies he dedicated crimes corresponding to tax evasion and mail fraud. He insists he was doing his greatest to adjust to the nascent Bitcoin taxation guidelines, and that his prosecution was politically motivated.
In December, he started his authorized battle in opposition to the prosecution, denying all the fees. He filed a movement to dismiss fees, however the authorities rejected it in January.
Ver’s authorized crew challenged an exit tax as “an unconstitutional burden on the fundamental right to expatriate.” For individuals like Ver, who’ve substantial quantities of low-liquidity belongings, the exit tax could also be prohibitive. The federal government suggests Ver is a fugitive. He disagrees with this standing as he doesn’t cover and didn’t commit crimes for which he’s judged whereas residing within the U.S.
On March 1, Ethereum’s Buterin printed an X submit arguing that the exit tax doesn’t exist in most different international locations and referred to as it the “tax-by-citizenship” and “extreme.”
As well as, Buterin talked about that the IRS obtained among the info by intimidating Ver’s legal professionals. The Ethereum founder added:
“Genuine good faith mistakes should be treated by giving the actor the opportunity to pay back taxes if needed with interest and penalties, not with prosecution.”
Will Bitcoin Jesus be pardoned?
Trump promised to pardon Ross Ulbricht if get elected. Ulbricht, the person behind the Silk Highway market charged for cash laundering and drug trafficking, is a vital determine within the historical past of Bitcoin as his market drove Bitcoin’s adoption. After the inauguration, Trump certainly pardoned Ulbricht to a lot acclaim.
Quickly, varied crypto advocates started to induce Trump to pardon Roger Ver. On Jan. 21, 2025, following the pardon of Ross Ulbricht, an X influencer utilizing the moniker Rothmus printed a brief submit calling for the pardon of Ver to which Elon Musk replied: “will inquire.” This reply gave the neighborhood hope for the pardon of Bitcoin Jesus.
On March 17, Marla Maples, Trump’s ex-wife, took to X to share a touching video the place individuals who met Ver inform their tales of his generosity.
It’s not clear, although, if the POTUS paid consideration to this submit.
The hope for a pardon of Ver was significantly undermined on Jan. 26, when Elon Musk instantly, by way of an X submit, acknowledged that Ver wouldn’t be pardoned as a result of he gave up his U.S. citizenship.
The assertion drew a lot criticism, as Musk is just not an elected official and can’t determine who to pardon and who to not. He’s, nevertheless, Trump’s advisor and was a serious donor to his “MAGA” marketing campaign.
Greater than that, the POTUS is just not prohibited from pardoning non-U.S. residents. Lastly, many commented that Ver needed to resign his citizenship underneath strain from ATF and a U.S. jail sentence.
A number of hours after Musk’s tweet, Ver took X to submit a video during which he briefly defined why he was prosecuted and requested Trump for a pardon.
Within the video, Ver acknowledged that he’s American and that renouncing his citizenship was one of many “hardest and saddest decisions [he] ever made.”
After Ulbricht, Hayes, Delo, and Reed obtained presidential pardons, others, together with Angela McArdle, who presently serves as Chair of the nationwide Libertarian Occasion, referred to as for liberating Ver as effectively.
“Let’s pray Roger Ver is next!” she declared on Friday.
It stays to be seen whether or not Musk made skeptical feedback over the potential of Ver’s clemency on Trump’s behalf or if it was solely his view of the scenario.
Finally examine Saturday, Trump hasn’t commented on Ver’s scenario.
