Briefly
- Launched information associated to convicted intercourse offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein comprise quite a few crypto mentions.
- New revelations present correspondence with notable early crypto builders and backers.
- Different information level to Epstein’s early investments into notable crypto firms.
A search by way of the trove of information associated to convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein supplies hundreds of outcomes associated to crypto and Bitcoin, highlighted by Epstein’s early involvement and consciousness of notable crypto initiatives and protocols.
Over the course of the week, Decrypt has highlighted among the largest tales that emerged from the hundreds of thousands of information launched final week by the Division of Justice, together with how Epstein invested in Coinbase and Bitcoin agency Blockstream, and had a very shut relationship with Tether co-founder Brock Pierce.
However there’s a lot extra within the information, together with references to main crypto gamers like Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and Technique co-founder and Govt Chairman Michael Saylor. Right here’s a have a look at probably the most shocking crypto mentions from each batches of the Epstein information launched by the Division of Justice.
Coinbase funding
Jeffrey Epstein was an early investor in publicly traded crypto alternate Coinbase, new emails present.
The convicted intercourse offender invested $3 million in 2014 and was launched to the chance by Tether co-founder Brock Pierce and his funding agency, Blockchain Capital. Nevertheless, Blockchain informed Decrypt that Epstein finally invested independently, not by way of the agency.
Primarily based on the emails, it is obvious that Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam was personally conscious of the funding, which got here years after Epstein’s conviction. The funding was made when Coinbase was valued round $400 million; the publicly traded firm is now value $44 billion.
In 2018, Epstein offered round half of his funding again to Blockchain Capital, emails present.
Bitcoin, crypto taxes
Epstein was in search of clarification about Bitcoin regulation and taxes as early as 2018, emails from the primary trove of information launched by the Division of Justice revealed.
In dialog with former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, Epstein advised that the Treasury Division ought to create a voluntary disclosure type for crypto good points in an try to “fuck all the bad guys.”
Later that yr, Epstein famous that crypto ought to be considered equally to the web, and dealt with with “coordinated understandings” and worldwide agreements.
Brock Pierce and Epstein
Tether co-founder Brock Pierce communicated with Epstein on a number of events about cryptocurrency and girls, with all correspondence going down after Epstein’s 2008 conviction, based on the most recent batch of information launched by the Division of Justice.
At one level, Pierce informed Epstein that “he had a great time with the girls,” and Epstein additionally instructed the crypto entrepreneur to “find him a present” when he was touring overseas.
Moreover, Epstein communicated to each side of an alleged relationship that Pierce had with a person that Epstein referred to as “his assistant.” The person allegedly declined a wedding proposal from Pierce.
Information additionally uncovered a gathering at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse between Tether co-founder Brock Pierce and former Harvard President Larry Summers.
The 2 apparently utilized the disgraced financier’s dwelling to talk about Bitcoin, with Summers noting that he noticed “opportunities,” however was involved concerning the potential harm to his status that Bitcoin losses might create.
Blockstream funding
Epstein was an investor in Bitcoin infrastructure agency Blockstream, based on newly revealed emails and a affirmation from early Bitcoin developer and Blockstream co-founder Adam Again.
“Blockstream met with Jeffrey Epstein, who was described at the time as a limited partner in [Joi] Ito’s fund,” wrote Again. “That fund later invested a minority stake in Blockstream.”
The longtime Bitcoiner and his Blockstream co-founder Austin Hill had been additionally each invited to Epstein’s island in 2014, based on newly revealed information from the DOJ. However whether or not or not the journey ever occurred is unclear from the emails, and Again didn’t reply to Decrypt’s request for remark.
In his affirmation of Epstein’s funding, the Blockstream co-founder added that the agency “has no direct nor indirect financial connection with Jeffrey Epstein, or his estate” at current time.
A Bitcoin core developer and former contributor to Blockstream urged Again to resign this week after the brand new information had been launched.
Epstein and Thiel discuss Bitcoin narrative
A 2014 electronic mail from Jeffrey Epstein to famed tech investor Peter Thiel questioned Bitcoin’s narrative.
“There is little agreement on what Bitcoin is,” wrote Epstein. “Store of or intrinsic value, (if any) currency, property, architecture, payment system. Etc.”
The reply adopted a query from Thiel about an rising “anti-BTC pressure” that could be rising throughout the U.S. authorities.
On the time, Bitcoin was buying and selling round $691 per coin. It’s since jumped dramatically, lately buying and selling round $70,000 after peaking above $126,000 final October.
Michael Saylor slammed
Bitcoin bull and Technique Govt Chairman Michael Saylor was referred to as a “creep” by Epstein’s publicist Peggy Siegal in an electronic mail to the convicted intercourse offender in 2010.
“He has no personality. Sort of like a zombie on a drug,” wrote Siegal of Saylor. “I walked him around and he was so weird that even I ran away from him.”
In keeping with the e-mail, Saylor supplied $25,000 for a spring gala for the “alternative to get his identify on [the] invite and meet a hip group.”
The email was sent more than a decade before Saylor’s software firm would make its first BTC purchase, with the firm amassing nearly $50 billion worth of the asset and inspiring a wave of followers to adopt a crypto treasury model.
Questionable ethics
Despite his 2008 conviction for procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute, a decade later, Epstein was concerned about the ethics of funding projects in the crypto space.
“I am more than happy to fund things but as I am high-profile, it can’t be questionable ethics,” Epstein wrote in an email to Bitcoin researcher Jeremy Rubin, who replied telling the financier that there’s a “grey area between pump and develop.”
“Their deal is to pump the currency,” mentioned Epstein of traders within the house. “It is dangerous.”
A “better” Vitalik Buterin
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s name is found in the Epstein files, but not as a result of any direct connections or correspondence with the disgraced financier.
Instead, the latest batch of emails shows an email Epstein received from Masha Drokova that highlights that the Russian investor had discovered a “super smart and young blockchain enthusiast in Russia.”
“He can be better than Vitalik Buterin if he focuses on technology,” Drokova added.
Although she offered to connect Epstein to the Russian individual, it is not clear who the technologist was, or whether or not they were ultimately linked to Epstein.
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