CEO of Bitcoin.com Roger Ver, popularly referred to as Bitcoin Jesus for his dogged advocacy of censorship resistant currency, is an oft-sought advisor and speaker for his insights on the ecosystem and its future. He’s auctioning off time to the highest bidder in an effort to support a pro-peace website, Antiwar.com.
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Roger Ver, Paradise, Crypto, and Peace
What was it like to be there at the relative beginnings of bitcoin? Why did you decide to invest in something like bitcoin businesses at a time when no one knew what it was? Do you really think bitcoin cash is the real bitcoin? With the right bid, a lucky reader might get some candid answers to these questions from one the original bitcoin pioneers, Roger Ver.
The meeting is organized by the online auction platform Charitystars, based out of Italy with offices in London and Los Angeles. It frequently taps celebrities in a given genre as a creative go-between nonprofit outfits and potential donors looking for value beyond warm and fuzzy feelings. The company has worked with hundreds of groups, helping rabid football fans meet Cristiano Ronaldo to offering a lunch with former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
“Our goal is to make giving fun and rewarding,” Charitystars explains. “Winners get the chance to live a dream, celebrities, brands and private donors support causes they are passionate about, and charities spend less time fundraising and more time creating positive change.” They claim to have had over 1,000 celebrities participate along with brands “such as Jessie J, Valentino Rossi, Andy Murray, James Blunt, Vivienne Westwood, Vanity Fair and Redbull,” in an effort to help support foundations from Save the Children to Special Olympics. They’ve raised close to 10 million dollars for charity.
Lots to Discuss
Apart from his bitcoin street cred, Mr. Ver’s life has loads of interesting tidbits. He was raised in a relatively conservative religious environment, was a self-described computer geek at a young age, and read a fairly heavy economics tome by obscure Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, Socialism, while still in middle school. He famously ran for office openly criticizing government law enforcement agencies, which he believes in turn caused a life-changing moment, his federal incarceration and subsequent parole. That lead him to formally renounce his American citizenship. He eventually gained new citizenship through St. Kitts (where the auctioned lunch will happen), and splits his year between it and his home in Japan. Oh, yeah, he speaks fluent Japanese. If all that isn’t enough to talk about, he’s begun a project whereby a group of investors is “purchasing sovereignty from a government to create the world’s first Free Society.” 
The ultimate beneficiary of the lunch will be Antiwar.com. The site was initially formed to counter Clinton administration-era foreign policy adventurism around the world. It has gone on since to oppose each successive administration’s military intervention by the United States, and routinely reports the stories other outlets will not. It is an online clearinghouse for skirmishes all over the world, and include updates and insights not found anywhere else on the web. The site also hosts podcasts and interviews along with guest columnists. It does all this without commercials and having to rely on the traditional media model which might taint or otherwise water-down its coverage.
Bidders have until January 25th 2018, 9:30am PST to win the lunch, and early reports indicate heavy interest. Payment can be made in bitcoin, bitcoin cash, and ether.
What would you talk about with Roger if you won? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Pixabay, Charitystars.
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