‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Roger Ver on Government, Renouncing Citizenship and Bitcoin’s Future

Daniel Cawrey

Published in

ZapChain Magazine

5 min readMay 12, 2015

He champions cryptocurrency as a form of money outside of government control.

Roger Ver is well known in bitcoin circles.

While many scoff at the idea governments will loosen their grip on the world’s money supply, Ver is undeterred. He’s gone so far as giving up his US citizenship and putting complete belief behind bitcoin.

Ver recently took questions from people on ZapChain about Silk Road, politics and what kind of startups he invests in.

Here are some of the most interesting topics he covered on ZapChain:

Startups

Ver still invests in bitcoin companies, although he’s become more inclusive.

“If it is something particularly useful and for some reason is having trouble getting funding from traditional sources, I may be interested.”

Government

For now, bitcoin is unimpeded by government regulation, and Ver likes that.

“The beauty of the free market is that everyone gets what they want. With governmentally imposed systems it is always one size fits all.”

Blockchains for Good

Ver thinks blockchain tech can enhance transparency, reducing corruption.

“We shouldn’t underestimate the horrors that can be caused by those who are willing to use guns and violence to shape society. I do think that overall blockchains are likely to be a much more powerful force for good than evil.”

Politics

Are politicians too inept to do their jobs? Ver thinks so.

“I think most politicians have almost no understanding of economics, otherwise they wouldn’t have become politicians.”

Silk Road

People may not enjoy it, but Ver says Silk Road was bitcoin’s first killer app.

“Like it or not, online free markets like the Silk Road have brought lots of people to bitcoin.”

Factom

Ver is wary of bitcoin 2.0 projects like Factom ever becoming profitable.

“I see Factom as being a very useful tool, but I don’t see any reason to buy any in the presale unless you just want to help fund the development. Don’t expect to get rich from Factom.”

Venture Capital

It’s rare for investors to only put money into bitcoin projects like Ver does.

“I enjoy working to make the world a better place for all people, including myself. I see angel investing in bitcoin related startups as a way to do that.”

Early Days

Like Ver, many people around when bitcoin first started valued freedom.

“Almost everyone involved in Bitcoin in the early days, including Satoshi, were libertarians, free market advocates, voluntaryists, or whatever word you would like to use. Today we are seeing people from all walks of life.”

Renouncing Citizenship

It’s a big step to renounce US citizenship like Ver has — he doesn’t regret it.

“I have no desire to reclaim my US citizenship. I spent multiple years and millions of dollars to renounce it. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.”

Participation

Anyone can use bitcoin, according to Ver — it’s not inclusive by any means.

“If women want to be involved in bitcoin, fine. If not, fine. Same for men, libertarians, socialists, NBA players, midgets, or anyone else. I don’t see this as any sort of an issue at all. Bitcoin is open to anyone who wants to participate.”

Altcoins

Almost every altcoin is too similar to bitcoin to matter, according to Ver.

“With very few exceptions, I don’t pay any attention to the altcoins.
Once one of them does something new and significantly better than Bitcoin, I will gladly pay attention.”

Bitcoin As Money

It’s still considered a ‘virtual currency’, yet Ver believes bitcoin is very real.

“From my study of economics when I was younger, particularly Murray Rothbard’s works, I realized that Bitcoin was the best form of money the world has ever seen, and I knew people would begin using it as money.”

Central Banks

Ver said bitcoin’s public ledger may force central banks to be transparent.

“The real benefit comes from the fact that central banks will no longer be able to create money from nothing. When they do this today, it has the net effect of stealing from the population as a whole.”

Mining

In the beginning, everyone could mine bitcoin — Ver says now its difficult.

“I think mining will always be a VERY difficult business to make money in because everyone can see the electricity cost, network hash rate, and price of bitcoin.”

Future

Will bitcoin ultimately be money everyone uses? Roger Ver thinks so.

“Pretty soon there wont be much of a need for us to convert our bitcoins back into fiat. In another few years, I think it wont seem wild for people to be doing nearly all of their financial transactions in Bitcoin only.”