One of the earliest Bitcoin popularizers, libertarian activist, and the mastermind behind Bitcoin Cash, Roger Ver, no longer faces 109 years in prison for tax evasion and mail fraud. He reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to pay $48 million. Some attribute this to Donald Trump’s pro-crypto course, while Trump didn’t actually pardon Ver.
Summary
- In 2024, Roger Ver was charged with failing to pay the U.S. $48 million in taxes for his Bitcoin gains. He was awaiting to be expatriated from Spain to the U.S.
- In 2025, Donald Trump pardoned the founder of dark marketplace Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, and the BitMEX co-founders, Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed. However, he didn’t react to Ver’s case.
- Ver is yet to make any announcements as his lawyer recommended him to withhold from comments for some time.
Seemingly, Roger Ver will avoid prison
On Oct. 9, 2025, The New York Times reported that Roger Ver has reached a tentative agreement with the DOJ. He will pay $48,000,000 to end the case against him. The Times referred to two unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter.
The deal is not filed with the court, the report suggests. It means that it could be changed anytime. The Times calls the potential case closing an example of Trump’s dismantling “a yearslong government crackdown on the crypto industry, a sector rife with fraud, scams and theft.” However, there is no evidence that Trump has any involvement in the ongoing settlement of the Ver’s case.
Mr. President, I am an American, and I need your help. Only you, with your commitment to justice, can save me @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/WhVTZ1M1GB
— Roger Ver (@rogerkver) January 26, 2025
What brings Ver’s case somewhat closer to Trump is that he hired lawyers who worked with Trump in the past. The list of people employed by Ver includes a lawyer who was assisting Trump during his second impeachment trial, David Schoen, Christopher M. Kise, who defended Trump in a number of various cases, and Trump’s associate, Roger Stone. Schoen called Ver’s prosecution a lawfare on Fox News in January 2025.
Fox News: David Schoen Calls Out Biden Admin for Targeting Roger Ver. Free Roger Ver! pic.twitter.com/bTer4j8Nq9
— DΛVID (@DavidShares) January 29, 2025
Moreover, Ver’s and his supporters’ attempts to reach out to Trump and beg for a pardon failed in the past.
Roger Ver gave up his US citizenship. No pardon for Ver. Membership has its privileges.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2025
In January, Elon Musk, who was close to Trump at the time, briefly said that Ver won’t be pardoned as he gave up his U.S. citizenship.
Ver declined to comment. Here’s what Ver wrote to The Times via email:
“I’d LOVE to say more, but I will follow my tax lawyer’s advice like I’ve been doing for decades […] Unfortunately, that means ‘no comment.’”
Read more: Trump pardons BitMEX founders, is ‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Roger Ver next?
Ver’s case
According to prosecutors, Ver failed to pay a $48 million exit tax on his Bitcoin holdings when he was leaving the U.S. following renunciation of American citizenship. Allegedly, Ver sold his bitcoins in 2017 without notifying financial attorneys.
Ver is facing up to 109 years in prison on the tax evasion and mail fraud charges. Explaining the mail fraud charges, Ver said that they are based on three instances when he sent letters to the Internal Revenue Service to report his taxes. The IRS qualified these reports as false. One of three instances was the duplicate letter requested by the IRS, citing that it didn’t receive the previous one. Allegedly, this letter added several years to his potential punishment.
Ver left the country in 2006. He did it after spending ten months in prison (plus probation time) for selling unlicensed fireworks on eBay. Ver believes the severity of his punishment points to political motivation behind the case, as during the libertarian events, he fiercely criticized the agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Once, he called them “murderers,” citing their involvement in the infamous Waco Siege that resulted in multiple deaths of minors. He feared further prosecution and decided to leave the U.S. In 2014, Ver renounced his U.S. citizenship.
Why did many in the crypto community advocate for Ver’s pardon?
Many in the crypto industry and libertarian movement advocated for the end of Ver’s case. The open letter in support of Ver was signed by the likes of Charlie Kirk, Vitalik Buterin, Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, Ross Ulbricht, and many others.
Vitalik Buterin voiced his support for Ver on Mar. 1, 2025. He noted that the case against Ver seems to be politically motivated. Buterin emphasized that there is no such thing as an exit tax in most other countries and called this tax-by-citizenship “extreme.” He concluded that instead of prosecuting Ver, the state should have given him a chance to pay his taxes back, probably with interest or penalties.
Going to prison for the rest of your life over non-violent tax offenses is absurd. The case against Roger seems very politically motivated; like with @RealRossU, there have been plenty of people and corporations who have been accused of far worse and yet faced sentences far… https://t.co/7G3zDkn2F2
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) March 1, 2025
Ver started to invest in Bitcoin as early as 2011. He believed Bitcoin fosters individual financial liberty and did a lot of work popularizing Bitcoin. He was an early investor in American crypto exchange Kraken, Ripple, Blockchain.com, and several other ventures. On top of that, he was one of five founders of the Bitcoin Foundation and helped Mt. Gox exchange and its customers when the exchange went through a multi-million dollar hack. Some recognize his early Bitcoin evangelism that earned him the nickname “Bitcoin Jesus” as very important for the cryptocurrency’s popularization.
A lot of you have clearly fallen for Roger Ver’s political persecution ploy and don’t actually understand the charges against him, so I’ll break it down.
1. The IRS says he didn’t pay the correct exit tax in 2014 because his filing reported that he personally owned 0 BTC when he…
— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) January 27, 2025
Some Bitcoin purists criticize Ver for his vocal support for Bitcoin Cash, a Bitcoin hard fork with a larger block size. Ver saw it as true Bitcoin, better suited for frequent transactions. Other critics suggest Ver is to blame for his problems with the IRS, as he just should have paid taxes properly.
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