Most of the players in the Bitcoin like to keep it quiet. However, there are some characters which are not only gaining a lot of traction but also are popularizing as well. One such individual is Roger Ver. He has plenty of history when it comes to Bitcoin. Owing to this very reason, he is widely regarded as one of the most prominent figures in the Bitcoin in cryptocurrency industry. Over the years, he has not held back from speaking on various topics and controversies in the cryptocurrency industry.
Roger Ver was interested in Bitcoin during the early days. He invested a significant amount of money in cryptocurrency start-ups. Due to his strong support for cryptocurrencies, he was also known by the name of Bitcoin Jesus. His recent opinions on Bitcoin have made him quite controversial.
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Background of Roger Ver:
Earlier, he was the CEO of memorydealers.com. He continued to be in this position for over a decade. In 2011, he was attracted to Bitcoin projects as well as cryptocurrency related projects. Roger Ver was also sentenced to prison for 10 months in 2002 for selling explosives on eBay.
Citizenship issues:
One of the main reasons why he is so controversial is because, in 2006, he moved to Japan. In 2014, he renounced his US citizenship. He tried to get the citizenship of St. Kitts and Nevis through the citizenship of investment program. In 2015, he was granted the Visa of United States once again after getting declined in 2015.
Investment in Bitcoin:
According to Roger Ver, he invested in Bitcoin in 2011. He even claimed that it is the most important invention in the history of mankind. He also started accepting Bitcoin payments on his website memorydealers.com. As a result, he was able to get a total collection of 400000 Bitcoins. He was also an investor in various cryptocurrencies start-ups during that time like BitInstant. He also invested in Kraken and Ripple. As a result, he also gained the name of Bitcoin just due to strong support for the cryptocurrency.
Controversies:
In 2017, Roger Ver stated that the speculative trading of Bitcoin is actually worrying him. If such level of speculation continues, he will find it difficult to consider Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency. This is where the controversy really started.
Currently, he is one of the individuals who are accusing Coinbase of insider trading in the listing of Bitcoin cash. He is one of the most outspoken people in the cryptocurrency industry.
Why ‘Bitcoin Jesus’ is so bullish about Bitcoin cash
Cryptocurrency users and developers around the world are adopting bitcoin cash at faster rates than bitcoin core, says Roger Ver, aka “Bitcoin Jesus.”
Ver, an early investor of bitcoin, says bitcoin core, a software used to detect which blockchain can be used for valid transactions, is “slow, expensive and unreliable.”
Bitcoin cash, however, can be used around the world as an actual currency, he says.
Cryptocurrency users and developers around the world are adopting bitcoin cash at faster rates than bitcoin core, Roger Ver, one of the first investors of bitcoin, told CNBC.
Bitcoin cash, a bitcoin offshoot, split off from bitcoin last year after a small group of developers decided to add upgrades that would improve transaction efficiency. The original Bitcoin is being referred to as Bitcoin core to differentiate it from the other version.
But Ver, who is sometimes called “Bitcoin Jesus” because he was one of the first investors of bitcoin, said the Bitcoin core software is “slow, expensive and unreliable.”
Instead, he recommended bitcoin cash, which he said, is built specifically for transactions.
Ver said new innovation and infrastructures are being built on top of bitcoin cash, “because it actually works.”
“All of these existing businesses are building their new products on top of bitcoin cash, just like myself as the CEO of bitcoin.com,” Ver said on “Fast Money” Tuesday. His website helps investors buy and store bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
“The economic path that bitcoin cash is on is the one that led to bitcoin’s original success,” Ver said. “I’m incredibly bullish on bitcoin cash for the exact same reasons I was bullish on bitcoin back in 2011.”
On Tuesday, bitcoin cash created a new blockchain with 32 MB block size limits. The software update immediately caused bitcoin cash’s value to fall by about 5 percent.
Still, at just above $1,300 Tuesday evening 6 p.m. ET, bitcoin cash is almost double its April 17 level of $763, when BKCM investment firm founder and CEO Brian Kelly predicted the coin would make a comeback later in the year.
Bitcoin cash was also the best performing large-cap cryptocurrency in the last month, beating out other large-cap digital coins like ethereum, ripple and traditional bitcoin.
Ver wasn’t worried about Tuesday’s sudden decline and even predicted bitcoin cash would double by the end of the year.
“That’s what actually gives [bitcoin cash] its underlying value, that you can use it in commerce to pay for things. Whereas, a lot of these other tokens out there just kind of turn into speculative assets that don’t actually have any utility.”
“It’s happening fast and furious around the world,” he said. “Bitcoin cash works as money; bitcoin core, sadly, no longer does.”
