Roger Ver, the man once heralded as “Bitcoin Jesus” for his trailblazing role in the cryptocurrency world, has reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to settle a high-profile criminal tax fraud case. The deal, first reported on October 9, 2025, requires Ver to pay approximately $48 million in back taxes. If the terms are met, prosecutors will drop the case, according to multiple reports, including The New York Times and Crypto Briefing.
Ver, 46, rose to prominence as an early investor and evangelist for Bitcoin and later Bitcoin Cash, attracting a loyal following and a reputation for challenging financial orthodoxy. But in recent years, his name has been attached to a very different kind of headline. In 2024, federal prosecutors charged Ver with fraud and tax evasion, alleging that he failed to pay taxes owed on his substantial digital currency holdings after renouncing his U.S. citizenship in 2014. The case accused him of concealing the true value of his Bitcoin assets while preparing the necessary filings to expatriate, a move that triggered an IRS “exit tax” on his worldwide assets.
According to The New York Times, Ver’s indictment claimed he provided false or misleading information to both a law firm and an appraiser, resulting in the filing of false tax returns that significantly undervalued his companies and their Bitcoin holdings. By 2017, Ver’s companies reportedly still held around 70,000 bitcoins, which he later sold for roughly $240 million. Though he was no longer a U.S. citizen at the time, the law required him to report certain distributions to the IRS and pay taxes on them. Prosecutors alleged his actions resulted in a $48 million loss to the government.
The saga took a dramatic turn in February 2024, when Ver was arrested at a cryptocurrency conference in Barcelona, Spain. U.S. authorities quickly moved to extradite him, and the case became a flashpoint in the ongoing debate over cryptocurrency regulation and enforcement. Ver’s legal team, as reported by Blockworks and The Economic Times, consistently maintained that the indictment was politically motivated, pointing to the Biden administration’s aggressive approach to crypto enforcement. In January 2025, Ver publicly appealed to President Donald Trump for help, warning in a social media video that he faced a potential sentence of more than 100 years because of his political views and his advocacy for digital assets. “Mr. President, I am an American, and I need your help,” he wrote on X. “Only you, with your commitment to justice, can save me.”
Ver’s defense strategy leaned heavily into the shifting political winds in Washington. Over the course of 2025, he paid $600,000 to Roger Stone, a longtime Trump ally, in an effort to abolish the tax provisions at the heart of his case. He also hired a legal team deeply connected to Trump’s orbit, including David Schoen (who represented Trump during his second impeachment trial), Christopher M. Kise (another Trump legal defender), and the lobbying firm of GOP fundraiser Brian Ballard. According to Crypto Briefing and The Economic Times, these moves were widely seen as an attempt to align Ver’s cause with President Trump’s ongoing grievances about the so-called weaponization of the justice system.
The case against Ver unfolded against a backdrop of dramatic change in federal crypto enforcement. Under President Biden, agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had launched a wave of lawsuits and regulatory actions, arguing that digital currencies should be subject to the same strict rules as stocks and bonds. But since Trump’s return to the White House for a second term in January 2025, the government has rapidly reversed course. The SEC has dropped lawsuits against Coinbase—the largest U.S. crypto exchange—and other major firms. In his first week back in office, Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road online marketplace, who had been serving a life sentence for narcotics distribution, money laundering, and hacking. The president later pardoned the founders of BitMEX, a crypto exchange whose executives had pleaded guilty in 2022 to violating anti-money laundering laws. Even Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, is reportedly seeking a pardon to clear the way for his company’s U.S. expansion.
Ver’s case, then, is widely viewed as emblematic of a broader government retreat from aggressive crypto enforcement. As Crypto Briefing observed, the deferred-prosecution agreement with Ver marks a shift in U.S. policy, reflecting a “light touch” approach from the Trump administration after years of high-profile crackdowns. The Justice Department has not commented publicly on the agreement, and Ver himself has declined to speak on the record, telling The New York Times, “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.’”
The tentative deal, which has not yet been filed with the court and remains subject to change, would drop the charges against Ver if he complies fully with the payment terms. If finalized, it would represent a remarkable turn for one of the crypto world’s most controversial pioneers—and a clear signal that Washington’s approach to digital assets is in flux once again.
The reaction from the cryptocurrency community has been predictably mixed. Supporters see Ver’s potential exoneration as a victory for personal freedom and a rebuke of what they view as overzealous government enforcement. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin publicly argued that authorities should focus on recovering unpaid taxes rather than pursuing harsh criminal penalties, drawing parallels to the case of Ross Ulbricht. Others, however, worry that the deal is yet another example of special treatment for well-connected crypto insiders, especially in light of Ver’s substantial lobbying efforts and high-powered legal team.
Meanwhile, critics of the rollback in enforcement warn that the crypto sector remains rife with fraud, scams, and theft. They argue that aggressive oversight is essential to protect investors and maintain the integrity of financial markets. The Trump administration’s shift, they say, risks sending the wrong message at a time when the industry’s reputation is still recovering from a series of high-profile collapses and scandals.
As the court considers whether to approve Ver’s settlement, the outcome will be closely watched—not just by crypto investors, but by policymakers and enforcement agencies around the world. For Roger Ver, the so-called “Bitcoin Jesus,” the tentative agreement may offer a path back to public life. For the U.S. government, it’s a signal that the rules of the crypto road are, once again, being rewritten.
