Will Bitcoin Jesus Roger Ver Be Pardoned by President Donald Trump?

Known as Bitcoin Jesus for his early advocacy of Bitcoin, Ver faces up to 109 years in prison on tax charges

Vitalik Buterin, Tucker Carlson, and Ross Ulbricht are among those calling for President Donald Trump to pardon Roger Ver.

Known as Bitcoin Jesus for his early advocacy of Bitcoin, Ver faces up to 109 years in prison on tax charges, including allegations of evading $48 million in taxes. Despite renouncing his U.S. citizenship in 2014 to avoid prosecution, Ver’s legal troubles resurfaced when he was arrested in Spain in 2024. But following the president’s earlier pardons of Ulbricht and BitMEX co-founders, observers wonder whether Ver’s would catch a break. Is a pardon on the way, or will Ver’s legal troubles continue?

A closer look.

Trump’s crypto cronies

After Trump himself warmly embraced cryptocurrency, many crypto leaders began to rally around the president by donating funds for his inauguration and hobnobbing at galas.

Trump also reportedly enjoyed playing the role of benefactor, granting favors to crypto executives. He reportedly enjoyed recounting tales of how he intervened personally to help them out of sticky legal situations.

In return, Trump signed an order to stockpile tokens and swiftly acted in favor of the industry. Under Trump-appointed SEC chair Mark Uyeda, several cryptocurrency companies, including Immutable, Crypto.com, Ripple, and Coinbase, had probes closed.

In a notable move on Thursday, Trump pardoned BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed, who had pleaded guilty to federal charges related to money laundering and regulatory violations. The trio was convicted for failing to put in place anti-money laundering measures at BitMEX, which prosecutors described as a “money laundering platform.” Reed was also convicted for violating the Bank Secrecy Act and paid a $10 million fine. But under Trump, it seems all is forgiven.

This has sparked speculation on whether Ver, a prominent figure in the crypto world, could also receive the same courtesy.

Ver, a Silicon Valley native with a libertarian streak, was deeply involved in the early days of cryptocurrency, investing in companies like Kraken, Ripple, and Blockchain.com. In 2017, Ver touted Bitcoin Cash (BCH) as being more suitable for everyday payments.

Ver’s past

In 2000, by the age of 20, Ver began to participate in libertarian party debates.

During these debates, he made critical statements about the agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, calling them “murderers” and referencing their involvement in the scandalous Waco Siege in which dozens of children were killed in a standoff between FBI and ATF agents and Branch Davidian cult followers. Ver didn’t know that ATF agents were present during these debates.

In the 2000s, Ver became involved in e-commerce. On top of tech enterprises, Ver was selling firecrackers on eBay. After selling unlicensed firecrackers in 2001, he was charged and spent 10 months in prison. The fact that he was locked in jail instead of being fined or notified about the necessity of obtaining a license led Ver to think that the case was political and that his criticism of ATF was the real reason behind his prosecution. Without fear of further persecution, Ver left the U.S. after his post-prison probation ended.

By 2011, Ver learned about Bitcoin and became one of its first investors. He also began to advocate for Bitcoin long before it went mainstream, with multi-million investments and national leaders talking about it as the future of their country.

The key points of Ver’s advocacy for Bitcoin were the financial freedom of individuals and the stopping of government and banks from interfering in people’s lives.

The legal fight

Since February 2014, Ver has been a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis. He claims that he had to renounce his U.S. citizenship after long-lasting targeting by the U.S. government.

In April 2024, he was indicted and arrested in Spain on charges of U.S. tax evasion and mail fraud. Ver is accused of dodging $48 million in taxes after earning up to half a billion dollars through cryptocurrencies.

According to prosecutors, Ver failed to pay his “exit tax” on 131,000 BTC owned by his two companies when he left the U.S. and provided false info to the law firms filing Ver’s tax returns. Allegedly, he sold his bitcoins in 2017 without notifying the financial attorneys.

Ver clarifies that three charges of mail fraud (combined, punishable by 19 years behind bars) are based on the three letters with his tax returns he sent to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Ver denies he committed crimes such as tax evasion and mail fraud. He insists he was doing his best to comply with the nascent Bitcoin taxation rules