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Trump’s second ex-wife calls for end of prosecution against Roger Ver
US President Donald Trump’s second ex-wife, Marla Maples, has shown support for ending the country’s case against early Bitcoin advocate Roger Ver, known as “Bitcoin Jesus.”
“Sharing more re [regarding] the call to dismiss the prosecution against Roger Ver,” Maples said in a March 16 X post, sharing a video created by an organization aimed at supporting Ver and tagging Trump, Elon Musk and US Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The Department of Justice charged Ver with mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false tax returns in April 2024, alleging he hid the amount of Bitcoin (BTC) he owned when he renounced his US citizenship in 2014 and defrauded the Internal Revenue Service out of $48 million by failing to report the gains he made through selling them.
Maples and Trump met in the mid-1980s during his first marriage to Ivana Trump, and was his second wife from 1993 until 1999. She has long been involved with philanthropy and has advocated for multiple charities and causes.
She is seemingly still close to and supportive of Trump, who together have a daughter, Tiffany Trump. Maples attended Trump’s inauguration and told the London Evening Standard in July that she was “open to whatever way that I can serve” the then-presidential bidder.
Maples joins a host of high-profile figures calling to stop the prosecution of Ver, which includes Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and online black market Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, who was facing a double life sentence in prison until Trump pardoned him in January.
Ver has appealed to Trump for a pardon, claiming he is being unfairly persecuted and is a victim of “lawfare.”
Neither Trump nor the White House has publicly acknowledged Ver’s plea, but Trump’s cost-cutting czar Musk said in a January X post that Ver “gave up his US citizenship. No pardon for Ver. Membership has its privileges.”
Related: Roger Ver’s Trump pardon plea: ‘Lawfare’ victim or tax evader?
Ver was arrested in Spain at the time of the US indictment pending his extradition to the US but was later granted bail on the condition he remain in the country.
He moved to dismiss the government’s case in December, arguing the charges were unconstitutional, and the IRS’ “exit tax” for renounced citizens is “inscrutably vague” when applied to crypto.
Cointelegraph has contacted Maples for comment.
Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
US government cost-cutting csar Elon Musk claims to have found at least 14 “magic money computers” in the federal government with the ability to send money from nothing. Musk said the computers, which exist in several federal departments, including the Treasury, Defense and Health and Human Services departments, can essentially issue payments and send money from nothing. “You may think that the government computers all talk to each other, they’re synchronized, they add up what funds are going where, and it’s coherent and that the numbers you’re presented as a senator are the real numbers,” Musk said in a March 17 episode of Senator Ted Cruz’s podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz. An absolute bombshell from @elonmusk on the latest episode of Verdict. He reveals there are 14 magic money computers in the federal government that send money out of nothing. Don’t miss the latest episode of Verdict wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe now!… pic.twitter.com/1tnJmJtiw9 — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 17, 2025 However, Musk said this isn’t the case. “They’re not totally wrong, but they’re probably off by 5% or 10% in some cases. So I call it ‘magic money computer’ — any computer that can make money out of thin air. That’s magic money.” Jameson Lopp, the chief security officer at Bitcoin (BTC) custody company Casa, said in the video comments that “Bitcoin fixes this.” Bitcoin advocates have long touted the cryptocurrency’s ability to hedge against currency devaluation, as Bitcoin’s supply is capped at 21 million coins, while fiat supply can increase with more “printing.” Source: Jameson Lopp Related: DOGE proposes slashing Internal Revenue Service staff by 20% Musk says his latest DOGE efforts have also uncovered that US government departments have more media, software subscriptions, and credit cards than they do people working there — in some cases, up to double. However, he thinks 80% of cases are waste and incompetence rather than a malicious scheme because, in some instances, companies are being sent money by mistake. Then nobody from the government is asking for the money back. “We saw a lot of payments going out of Treasury that had no payment code and no explanation for the payment, and then we’re trying to figure out what that payment is,” Musk said. “Then we see that, okay, that contract was supposed to be shut off, but someone forgot to shut off that contract, and so the company kept getting money. Now, is that waste or fraud?” Musk’s other business ventures have suffered due to his DOGE work. Tesla facilities around the US have been vandalized as part of a broader “Take down Tesla” movement protesting DOGE’s cost-cutting measures. Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle Stablecoin developer Ethena Labs and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization company Securitize are launching a new blockchain for retail and institutional investors seeking access to the DeFi and tokenization economies. According to a March 17 announcement, the forthcoming Converge blockchain is an Ethereum Virtual Machine that will provide retail investors with access to “standard DeFi applications.” It will also specialize in institutional-grade offerings that will help bridge traditional finance with DeFi opportunities. The Converge blockchain is announced at the Tokenize NYC conference on March 17. Source: Cointelegraph Converge will launch with various product offerings, including Ethereal, Morpho, Maple Labs, Pendle and Aave Labs’ Horizon. Converge’s RWA infrastructure will benefit from Securitize’s growing presence in the tokenization market, with nearly $2 billion minted across various blockchains. The company recently announced that BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) has surpassed $1 billion in net assets one year after launch. The Converge blockchain will receive custodial support from Anchorage and Copper as well as custodial support from Securitize’s latest partner, RedStone. On the DeFi side, Converge will allow users to stake Ethena’s native governance token, ENA. Ethena’s USDe (USDE) and USDtb stablecoins will serve as the network’s gas tokens. Related: BlackRock CEO wants SEC to ‘rapidly approve’ tokenization of bonds, stocks: What it means for crypto Institutional DeFi — when traditional financial institutions adopt regulatory-compliant DeFi systems — appears to be gaining traction as companies look to optimize their operations and access new yield opportunities. Even JPMorgan, once a blockchain and Bitcoin (BTC) skeptic, said institutional DeFi “has the potential for growth and transformative impact.” RWAs are accelerating this trend, with the likes of McKinsey forecasting a $2 trillion tokenization market by 2030. As Neoclassic Capital co-founder Michael Bucella noted in an interview with Cointelegraph, RWAs are attracting big investors because they address “pricing inefficiencies” in both traditional and digital assets. “To TradFi, that is mispriced credit facilities (i.e., cost of capital) or exposure to underpriced volume. To crypto-native, that is low-volume, secure assets,” said Bucella. Including stablecoins, which are onchain representations of fiat currencies, the total RWA market has exceeded $240 billion, according to industry data. Excluding stablecoins, the total value of RWAs onchain is fast approaching $20 billion across more than 90,500 holders, according to RWA.xyz. The new issuance volume of RWA shows a significant growth in stablecoins, US Treasury and private credit debt. Source: RWA.xyz Related: Bitwise makes first institutional DeFi allocation Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the world’s largest public corporate Bitcoin holder, has announced its smallest Bitcoin purchase on record. Strategy on March 17 officially announced its latest 130 Bitcoin (BTC) acquisition, bought for around $10.7 million in cash, or at an average price of roughly $82,981 per BTC. The latest Bitcoin purchase was made using proceeds from the “STRK ATM,” a new Strategy’s program looking to raise up to $21 billion in fresh capital to acquire more BTC. Strategy’s new 130 BTC buy is the smallest one ever recorded since the company announced its first purchase of 21,454 BTC for $250 million in August 2020. With the new purchase, Strategy and its subsidiaries now hold 499,226 BTC, acquired at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $33.1 billion and an average purchase price of around $66,360 per BTC, inclusive of fees and expenses. After buying 130 BTC, Strategy is yet to buy 774 BTC to reach holdings of 500,000 BTC. Source: Michael Saylor According to the Strategy website, the company’s Bitcoin yield now stands at 6.9%, significantly lower than its 15% target for 2025. Despite the Bitcoin price falling to multimonth lows below $80,000 last week, Strategy’s latest buy is significantly smaller than its most recent buys and is the smallest ever announced BTC purchase by the firm. Prior to the latest purchase, the smallest BTC purchase by Strategy was a 169 Bitcoin purchase in August 2024, according to official records by Strategy. Strategy’s Bitcoin acquisitions in 2025. Source: Strategy So far in 2025, Strategy has acquired 51,656 BTC in seven announced acquisitions. This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available. Arthur Hayes, Murad’s Prediction For Meme Coins, AI & DeFi Coins For 2025 Expert Sees Bitcoin Dipping To $50K While Bullish Signs Persist Aptos Leverages Chainlink To Enhance Scalability and Data Access Bitcoin Could Rally to $80,000 on the Eve of US Elections Sonic Now ‘Golden Standard’ of Layer-2s After Scaling Transactions to 16,000+ per Second, Says Andre Cronje Institutional Investors Go All In on Crypto as 57% Plan to Boost Allocations as Bull Run Heats Up, Sygnum Survey Reveals Crypto’s Big Trump Gamble Is Risky Ripple-SEC Case Ends, But These 3 Rivals Could Jump 500x
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Institutional DeFi on the rise
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Strategy is 774 BTC away from holding 500,000 BTC
Smallest buy on record
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