Roger Ver Issues $100k Bitcoin Bounty for Bernie Sanders Debate

Roger Ver has offered US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders $100,000 in the form of a bitcoin donation he'll make in his name to a charity if he'll engage in a debate with Iraq War veteran and talk show host Adam Kokesh.

The offer made in a video posted to Kokesh’s YouTube channel is in response to video posted by the Occupy Democrats in which Sanders talks about wealthy US citizens renouncing their citizenship.

"Your policies are clearly intended to help," Ver, a bitcoin angel investor and advisor to wallet service Blockchain, said in the video. "But it seems you don't see how they are backed up by violence."

In the video, Ver takes issue with the payment of taxes as a means to fund the wars Sanders has widely spoken out against. Ver, who renounced his US citizenship, denounced the idea of patriotism and called on the wealthiest 1% of the US population to stop paying taxes.

In the Bernie Sanders speech, which was edited together with images of US citizens who have purportedly renounced their citizenship — including Ver — the Democratic presidential candidate and Senator from Vermont questions wealthy US citizen who fled to other countries.

"These great lovers of America who made their money in this country," Sanders said in a speech used in edited form in the video. "When you ask them to start paying their fair share of taxes they’re running abroad."

Ver’s offer to make a donation in Sanders’s name to a non-governmental entity is a common practice during election season. In Ver's case, Sanders would have to engage in a three-hour debate with Kokesh, who made headlines in 2014 after he received no jail time following controversial drug and gun-related convictions.

Ver said he’ll make the donation in bitcoin in Sanders’ name with "some of the tax money I saved by renouncing my US citizenship."

Image via YouTube