Roger Ver
| Roger Ver | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 1979 California, United States |
| Residence | Japan |
| Nationality | Saint Kitts and Nevis |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Investing in Bitcoin, becoming one of the world's first "virtual millionaire" and advocating Voluntaryism |
| Website |
rogerver |
Roger Ver (b. ~1979) is a Kittitian/Nevisian early investor in bitcoin related startups. He was formerly an American citizen.
He leveraged his gains and invested over a million dollars into new bitcoin related startups including Blockchain, Ripple, and BitPay.[1]
In 2002 Ver pleaded guilty after selling explosives on eBay, which the U.S. Department of Justice described as "dealing in explosives without a license", and he was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison.[2][3][4]
He moved to Japan in 2005, became a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis and renounced his United States citizenship in 2014.[5][1][2][6] In 2015 he was denied a visa to reenter the United States by the U.S. Embassy in Barbados, which claimed that he had not sufficiently proven ties outside of the United States that would motivate him to leave at the end of his visit, causing fears he might become an illegal immigrant.[1][3][6][7] Later in the same year his visa was approved by the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, and he visited the United States in June 2016 to speak at a conference in Denver, Colorado.[8][5]
References
- 1 2 3 Wood, Robert W. (Jan 13, 2015). "Citizenship Renunciation Fee Hiked 422%, And You Can't Come Back". Forbes.
- 1 2 Clenfield, Jason; Pavel Alpeyev (Jun 16, 2014). "'Bitcoin Jesus' Calls Rich to Tax-Free Tropical Paradise". Bloomberg.
- 1 2 Sparkes, Matthew (Jan 7, 2015). "Millionaire 'Bitcoin Jesus' denied entry to the US: An early Bitcoin adopter and libertarian who became known as Bitcoin Jesus for funding several startups and handing out free coins has been denied entry into the US, despite having been born in the country, after renouncing his citizenship". Telegraph (UK).
- ↑ "San Jose, California Man Pleads Guilty to Selling Explosives on eBay". U.S. Department of Justice, United States Attorney, Northern District of California. May 2, 2002. Archived from the original on February 13, 2015.
- 1 2 Scott, Michael (2016-06-03). "Roger Ver at 5280 Feet: On Bitcoin and His Life Journey". BTC Manager. Retrieved 2016-08-05.
- 1 2 Minsky, David (Jan 16, 2015). "U.S. Won't Let "Bitcoin Jesus" Who Renounced His Citizenship Come To Miami For Conference". Miami New Times (blog).
- ↑ Farivar, Cyrus (Jan 7, 2015). "Bitcoin investor who renounced US citizenship now can't get back in: Roger Ver gave up US passport in favor of St. Kitts last year". Ars Technica.
- ↑ "Message from Roger Ver". September 20, 2015.
External links
"Episode 687: Buy This Passport". Planet Money. March 10, 2016.