Roger Ver: The most controversial missionary in the encryption circle.

When it comes to legendary figures in the crypto assets world, Roger Ver is definitely a name that stands out - but this name is polarizing within the community.

This guy was born in Silicon Valley in 1979 and made his first bucket of gold in his early years by flipping computer parts (MemoryDealers). After coming into contact with Bitcoin in 2011, he was directly hooked and was once dubbed “Bitcoin Jesus.” He is a major investor in the early Bitcoin ecosystem, having supported projects like BitInstant, Blockchain.com, and Kraken, and he also founded Bitcoin.com to promote Bitcoin knowledge.

But what truly made Ver a “celebrity” was the BCH hard fork controversy in 2017.

At that time, the debate over Bitcoin scalability became increasingly intense—one faction supported Segregated Witness (SegWit), while the other advocated for increasing the block size. Ver belonged to the latter, insisting that Bitcoin should be an “electronic cash system,” not digital gold. Ultimately, the BCH hard fork emerged, and Ver vigorously supported BCH as the true vision of Satoshi Nakamoto. What was the result? He was criticized by many and trended on social media, accused of misleading newcomers with Bitcoin.com and promoting BCH as the “real Bitcoin.”

The controversy is not over yet. In 2002, he served time for selling explosives on eBay (although they were labeled as pest control tools). Recently, it was revealed that he owes $47 million in USDC, claiming that he doesn't have to pay it back because the Genesis fund went bankrupt – this ridiculous logic has caused many people to roll their eyes.

Currently, Ver's movements are quite low-key. It is said that he has changed his stance and believes that Ethereum, rather than Bitcoin, can attract new users to enter the market, which has triggered another round of criticism.

What do you think? Ver is indeed a driving force behind the early Bitcoin ecosystem, but the actions regarding BCH did split the community. His story actually reflects the core contradiction in the crypto world: is it the pursuit of the ideal of decentralization, or is practicality the key? This question still has no conclusion.