Roger Ver certainly divides opinion. The man once heralded as the “Bitcoin Jesus” has become more of the Bitcoin antichrist in 2018. Considering how prominent a name Roger Ver has become in the cryptocurrency realm, whenever he speaks these days, he tends to stir up a hornet’s nest of controversy. What seems to have people up in arms as of late is his backing of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), as he is now facing a BCH backlash from those who appear to see through his questionable ethics.
A nearly never ending rap sheet
Controversy isn’t a stranger to Ver. It seems that every other week he’s saying something controversial, offensive, or in – some instances – borderline stupid. Just recently he called out much-loved Bitcoin advocate Andreas Antonopoulos, effectively taunting him on missing out on Bitcoin’s recent boom. What some might not know is that Ver’s discretions actually stretch back much further than his recent BCH associations – don’t worry, we’re going to get to those – as Ver was sentenced to a 10 months prison sentence for selling explosives on eBay. He’s also managed to get himself tangled up in the ultimate trading taboo, as he openly believes that insider trading is not a crime. He recently said in a CNBC interview, “I think insider trading is a non-crime”, which certainly speaks volumes of his integrity.
Becoming the “Bitcoin Jesus”
Ver definitely doesn’t have a squeaky-clean background, but he did put his notoriety to good use during the growth of Bitcoin. Representing an early investor – much like Andreas Antonopoulos, the man he would go on to openly mock – Ver would help spread the word of Bitcoin. Accepting Bitcoin as a payment method, Ver had reportedly amassed an impressive 425,000 BTC fortune back in 2014. There is every chance that he’s spent a good chunk of that fortune by now, but there is no denying that he was one step ahead of the curve when it came to predicting Bitcoin’s insane growth. Given his success, he was labeled the “Bitcoin Jesus” by the cryptocurrency community.
Controversy creates Bitcoin Cash
Then – after years of establishing himself as Bitcoin power player – BCH entered the equation and Ver slowly emerged as an enemy of the world’s most prominent cryptocurrency. Coming about through the Bitcoin hard fork, BCH has been met with a pretty negative response from within the cryptocurrency community. Ver has openly backed BCH from the start, which is exactly where his recent troubles began. The problem with BCH is that while it does have some degree of use – such as for online casino play – it simply isn’t Bitcoin.
The makings of a pump and dump
Commonly labeled as a pump and dump scheme, BCH has taken on a very questionable marketing approach. Using the Bitcoin name, it has pushed boundaries with regards to it selling itself as part of the Bitcoin product family, which isn’t actually the case. Through this BCH has duped many unsuspecting investors into buying BCH, thinking that they were buying Bitcoin. Obviously, this has rubbed many people up the wrong way, especially those that are looking to protect the image of Bitcoin within mainstream markets. The murky marketing tactics don’t end there either, as how the coin is being sold has also raised major questions. BCH advocates push the agenda that it holds countless technological and performance advantages over Bitcoin, but a simple Google search can reveal that this simply isn’t the case.
The likes of Coinbase and Bittrex might have added BCH support, but they’ve faced plenty of bad press for doing so. You don’t need to be a cryptocurrency genius to see that BCH is struck in the mud, with it not going anywhere vast as a truly viable cryptocurrency. Facts speak volumes, so in no realistic world does it have the potential to overtake Bitcoin, nor even match it when it comes to out and out power.
More murky marketing
You would think that Ver would have seen that the writing is effectively on the wall for BCH – considering that he is someone that helped push through its creation – but that isn’t the case. He seems to stand by BCH even in spite of it being a labeled as a “scam” by most. Ver is even attempting to manipulate public perception through his ownership of Bitcoin.com, promoting it as the “true form” of Bitcoin. Time and time again his Twitter timeline is full of anti-Bitcoin rhetoric and pro-BCH propaganda. For the most part, these tweets have been tagged as nothing more than a brainwashing attempt, but now Ver appears to be facing much more than just quiet discontent from many of his followers.
Bracing for the BCH backlash
Looking at the responses he’s been receiving, Ver is facing a level of backlash that’s seldom been seen before in the usually accepting cryptocurrency community before. After tweeting, “BCH is what BTC used to be. The current BTC is something I am not bullish on. It is slow, expensive to use, and unreliable for transactions by the intentional design of current BTC supporters”, hundreds of people jumped on this misinformation, calling Ver a “liar”, an “imposter”, and “boring”, along with various other terms that probably aren’t quite fit for publishing on BitStarz blog.
Has Roger Ver been found out?
This recent criticism of Ver isn’t new – it’s been going on for months – but there is now no denying that it is becoming louder. Even though BCH has its place in the cryptocurrency market, which is why it makes up part of BitStarz extensive range of cashier options, to say that it’s more reliable, productive, honest, or functional than Bitcoin is ridiculous. Roger Ver’s reputation is in freefall, as he continues to try and cripple the cryptocurrency sphere with his outrageous BCH claims. In all honesty, he might want to want to start listening to his critics, because at this point, Ver is verging on becoming the cryptocurrency market’s most ridiculed figure.