‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Preaches Libertarian Gospel of Crypto & Crack Cocaine
Roger Ver, better known as "Bitcoin Jesus," preaches a libertarian gospel that venerates crypto and condemns cops who arrest you for smoking crack cocaine. | Source: World Blockchain Forum/Keynote/YouTube (i), Shutterstock (ii). Image Edited by CCN.com.
By CCN.com: Roger Ver took to YouTube to read another letter from Ross Ulbricht, creator of the first darknet market using Bitcoin. The libertarian idealist used the opportunity to rail against the war on drugs.
Roger Ver Reads Letter from Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht
Roger Ver – once nicknamed “Bitcoin Jesus” for his rabid crypto evangelism – is more recently best known as a major proponent of Bitcoin Cash, which he views as remaining more faithful to the vision of Satoshi Nakamoto than Bitcoin.
Ross Ulbricht, meanwhile, is currently serving a life sentence in federal prison for his role in providing a safe place for people to buy and sell drugs online. Some have argued that Silk Road created the first real demand for Bitcoin, which was the only currency used on the website.
Ver makes a habit of sharing the letters Ulbricht writes him, and he has been one of Ulbricht’s most vocal and generous supporters. The letter thanks Ver for his continued support and notes that he is organizing a benefit concert soon in Los Angeles.
Bitcoin Jesus: You Absolutely Have the Right to Smoke Crack
After reading the letter, Roger Ver unleashed an emotional monologue about the war on drugs, of which he believes Ross Ulbricht is an unfortunate victim.
He presented a boilerplate libertarian stance that drugs should not be illegal, in any form.
Some might argue that addiction makes for compulsory participation, but this kind of logic does not play well with people like Ver.
Ver said that alcohol and marijuana are equivalent, in his eyes, to crack cocaine. He lashed out at laws that make drugs illegal and the police officers who enforce them:
“If you’re a police officer watching this video, like, look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, when you put someone in prison or arrest somebody for having a plant that makes them feel happy or buying and selling a white powder that makes people feel happy, are you the good guy for doing that? I would argue very strongly – no, you’re the bad guy for doing that. Just like the people that were arresting people for drinking alcohol when alcohol was illegal in the USA. They were the bad people for doing such a thing.
In case there was any doubt, Ver reiterates that this logic applies to all hard drugs, even crack cocaine.
“And just because some people get together and write some words down on paper and call it a law, that doesn’t alter morality one bit. And if people have the right to drink alcohol, they have the right to smoke marijuana – they have the right to smoke crack. Because their lives and their bodies belong to them and their lives and their bodies don’t belong to the politicians or the police officers or any of these other people.”
Darknet Crackdowns on the Rise
We must mention that Ross Ulbricht never sold drugs himself.
The most involvement in the drug trade Ulbricht had was trying to grow mushrooms . Even so, he received the harshest sentence out of anyone ever arrested related to darknet markets.
Governments worldwide have gone the opposite route from what Roger Ver and libertarians might prefer. Recently, DeepDotWeb, a clear net site devoted to the underworld of the web, was shut down and its domain seized. At least two of its operators have so far been arrested. This follows the capture of the proprietors of Wall Street Market , which had recently exit scammed.
A substantial darknet bust coincided with the closure of Dream Market, leading some to speculate the events were correlated.
In theory, it’s challenging to track users on the dark web and transactions made using certain privacy-enhancing technologies like cryptocurrency. The reality is that law enforcement often gets a big boost when it compromises just one or two individuals.
It’s a small world, after all.
