“Whether Bitcoin ends up being a peer-to-peer cash system or a control system within a dystopian nightmare depends on what decisions we make going forward.”
~ Roger Ver
By Catherine Austin Fitts
It is rare that I remember the excitement and wonder of discovering the possibilities of decentralized digital money. In Hijacking Bitcoin: The Hidden History of BTC, Roger Ver and co-author Steve Patterson succeed in bringing it all back.
I remember sitting on the trading floor at Hamilton Securities Group long ago with half the firm discussing something we were inventing called “JIT$”—Just in Time Money—with Eric Hughes. JIT$ was to operate on the Internet but could be grounded in local currencies, where the opportunity to circulate equity locally inspired a new way of thinking about monetary and fiscal financial flows. Eric was a founder of the Cypherpunks and had just authored the Cypherpunk’s Manifesto. That day, he designated himself the King of Payment Systems and me the Queen of Incentive Systems.
And then things changed. Hamilton got targeted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and our suite of software tools and databases seized. Silicon Valley was pumped and dumped by big money in the dot.com bubble. The freedom fighters scattered, and Eric moved to Utah. After the crash, Silicon Valley transformed into defense contractors.
In Hijacking Bitcoin, Ver tells the history of Bitcoin. The book is beautifully written—the descriptions of both tech and economic issues are clear and accessible to the lay reader. The descriptions and stories are calm and measured. This is a mature, intelligent assessment that will allow you to understand how Bitcoin started, how it developed and grew, and ultimately, how it has been hijacked.
Bitcoin started as a digital payment system that had the potential to grow into a powerful decentralized network and community that offered significant utility and could indeed revolutionize money. However, that is not what happened. Bitcoin was converted into what I describe as a “pump-and-dump” financial product, designed to profit by attracting retail funds away from real assets and into pure speculation. It is now designed to maximize capital gains for its founders, early investors, and a variety of interests intent on using crypto to further promote the dollar system and the control grid.
Hijacking Bitcoin is the first book I have read about Bitcoin that makes complete sense and displays an understanding of many of the forces at work—including the dangers of using Bitcoin and crypto to lead us into a dystopian nightmare of complete control. On a positive note, as Ver describes, Bitcoin Cash holds to the original design of Bitcoin and still offers the opportunity to build a significant global payment network.
Ver published Hijacking Bitcoin in early 2024. The first review I found of the book was published on April 4, 2024. On April 24, Ver was arrested in Spain on U.S. Department of Justice charges of tax fraud related to exit taxes paid when he withdrew from U.S. citizenship in 2014. I find such charges regarding taxes for a filing period approximately a decade before to be a remarkable coincidence. The ongoing shenanigans of Bitcoin Billionaires and the growing Wall Street role in the new Bitcoin “pump” now underway depend on perpetuating the romance and glamour of Bitcoin as a powerful decentralized tool for freedom. Replace that brand with the facts—as Ver has done—and the schemes currently afoot may lose some or all of their potential. Not to mention that the Bitcoin seizure machine at DOJ is now set up and rolling. Taking Ver’s holdings to add to their Asset Forfeiture Fund stash (now said to be 210,000 BTC) would be quite a plum.
Realizing the potential of digital money to serve freedom is something we want. Based on Hijacking Bitcoin, Ver is highly qualified to continue to help lead the effort. You can help by buying and circulating his book. Hijacking Bitcoin would make a great Christmas gift for anyone you know who trades BTC, BTC Cash, or dollars. Finally, if by any chance you know Attorney General-elect Gaetz, send him a copy and suggest that he take a personal interest in this case.
Now that we have years of experience in watching promising financial tools be mangled and usurped by greed and covert forces, it’s time to do something to send things in a more powerful, enduring direction.
For starters, you can sign the open letter to free Roger Ver here.
Related:
Hijacking Bitcoin: The Hidden History of BTC
Roger Ver was right about Bitcoin
DOJ charges “Bitcoin Jesus” with $48 million tax fraud, seeks extradition
Roger Ver (Wikipedia)
