Bohol Yoga Festival, April 21-22, 2024

Roger Ver

Foreword
If you are new to Bitcoin or crypto-currency, best to read this intro-blog first:
Bitcoin - the Liberation of Currency

Stumbling Upon Roger Ver
Every once in a while, I get lucky enough to stumble upon a great life - one that inspires and moves, and more importantly, one who is still alive to forge through with the movement. With the exposé of governments' duplicitous controls and the advent of crypto-currencies, one such individual emerged - Roger Ver. I got wind of him from my subscription to a wonderful documentary site, Top Documentaries. I completely subscribe to Roger's advocacy for people-power through the use of crypto-currency. I have since followed him online. His gospel rings true to me and I support him all the way (while exercising critical thinking).

Roger Ver - Bitcoin Jesus
Roger Ver has been the most visible evangelical crusader for Bitcoin, earning him the name, Bitcoin Jesus. As a libertarian, he has been one of the earliest adaptors to Bitcoin when it was still unheard of and ignored. His resolve has remained staunch and unwavering despite the fork that has divided the Bitcoin community into 2 - Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Cash.

Roger Ver - the Libertarian
Roger studied economics and computer science. With the advent of Bitcoin, it became an explosive cocktail for a libertarian who saw economic freedom at the end of the tunnel. Before Bitcoin, Roger was a political activist who was singled-out and jailed by the system for selling fireworks designed to help farmers ward off birds from eating their crops! Yes, not bombs or assault rifles, but fireworks for use as scarecrow! It was a politically motivated blow-back by the US government for his libertarian views. After serving a 10-month jail time, his disillusion of the government prompted him to give up his citizenship and expatriate himself in St. Kitts where he launched his crusade to support a crypto-currency that would unshackle the public from indentured slavery from the central banking system and governments - Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Hard Fork - Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Cash
The Bitcoin community was a formidable force building momentum until widespread adoption revealed its weakness that not even Satoshi Nakamoto, it's inventor, anticipated. Bitcoin could only handle 3-7 transactions per second (in reference, Visa can handle up to 40,000 transactions/second). Transaction time became a bottleneck resulting in long confirmation times and increased transaction fees. The community knew the problem - there was no gray area about that. Where they differed was how to address the problem, which fiercely and bitterly split Bitcoin into 2 communities (imagine 2 brothers beating up each other), resulting in a hard-fork, giving rise to 2 separate and independent Bitcoins - Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Cash.

Bitcoin Core
Without going into the technical details, Bitcoin Core wanted to make the transaction size smaller and introduced the SegWit (Segregated Witness). The original open-source coders behind Bitcoin are behind Bitcoin Core. Programmers seem to favor Bitcoin Core. But by design, transaction time remained long and fees high.

Bitcoin Cash
On the Roger Ver camp is Bitcoin Cash that remained true to the whitepaper presented by Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin Cash has fast transaction confirmations at pennies per transaction. People who understand real-world economics favor Bitcoin Cash which is the closer substitute for use as everyday money.

Bankers Behind Bitcoin Core?
This speculation has been bounced around but doesn't seem to get traction, but I share this speculation. I suspect that the banks were able to infiltrate Bitcoin and neutralize its momentum. This confused its supporters and divided the community. This would explain why Bitcoin Core supports delayed transaction and high transaction fees. If I were the big banks, this is exactly what I would do to halt Bitcoin in its tracks. But this resulted in something unforseen by the banks themselves - the Bitcoin dilemma spawned the genesis of other crypto-currencies that are now thriving well on their own. To this extent, the banks have failed in stopping crypto-currencies.

Ending Thoughts
Roger is as synonymous to Bitcoin as Tim Berners Lee is synonymous to the World Wide Web - thank God for these 2 amazing individuals! Despite mounting pressure and the smear campaign to discredit him by the proponents of Bitcoin Core, he remains staunch in his resolve to put Bitcoin Cash on the forefront of crypto-currencies for mass adoption and be used like everyday money - money to buy coffee, money to pay for your dinner, etc. Only through increased use of Bitcoin Cash by vendors and consumers will the banks' power erode, consequently resulting in People-Power. But this needs to be at the consumer level when it's used to substitute for money - not so much if Bitcoin Cash is only used to trade as a foreign-exchange.

To Roger, Bitcoin Cash is not just another currency alternative. It's about breaking the chains imposed by governments and central banks in controlling people and shaping the world's destiny (in their own terms). It is through control of money that the banks are able to de-stabilize nations, change regimes, trigger market meltdowns and cut a sovereign nation at the knees.

As Rick Falkvinge, CEO of BitcoinCash.com, puts it, the advent of crypto-currency is a countdown to the banking system at the extinction level. Of course the global banking system will not sit idle while crypto-currencies begin to take over market share. The banking cartel, given their smarts, clout and resources, will stop at nothing to remain in power.

I am completely with Roger on the Bitcoin Cash crusade - as a more efficient money and as a way to disempower the powerful banking cartels. After the hard fork, I liquidated all my Bitcoin Core and kept my Bitcoin Cash. The immediate problem I see now is that the vendors accepting Bitcoin have not yet adopted the Bitcoin Cash - so I cannot pay for goods and services yet using Bitcoin Cash.

However, as far as crypto-currencies go, the genie cannot be put back in the bottle. The divide that rocked Bitcoin, spawned thousands of other crypto-currencies that are now on the market, some of them gaining traction and widespread use - Litecoin, Ethereum, Zcash, Dash, Monero, etc. All of them have distinct advantages over Bitcoin either through lower transaction fees, faster transaction times, greater anonymity or increased security. We don't know how crypto-currencies will re-shape the financial markets or our everyday lives, but one one thing is clear - crypto-currencies are here to stay.

Without the efforts of Roger Ver to shout at the top of his lungs at every convention, talk programs and crypto-currency gatherings about the merits of Bitcoin Cash to a now-confused public, the bankers may have won the day for Bitcoin.

--- Gigit (TheLoneRider)
YOGA by Gigit | Learn English | Travel like a Nomad | Donation Bank

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