On January 30th, the U.S. Department of Justice disclosed a large number of "Epstein Files" for the first time, immediately attracting widespread attention and discussion globally. While we were seeing whether Musk "went to the island," Bill Gates' extramarital affair, or the next Federal Reserve Chair nominee Kevin Warsh also appeared on Epstein's party invitation list, these newly disclosed files also dropped a bombshell regarding the cryptocurrency industry.
The history of the cryptocurrency industry may have finally revealed the tip of the iceberg and could be rewritten from now on.
Was Epstein a "Crypto OG"?
As early as 2011, Epstein had already taken notice of Bitcoin. That year, the total annual trading volume of Bitcoin had not yet exceeded $100 million, and its price once broke $30 before plummeting by 90%.
The following email is dated June 12, 2011, right around the peak of Bitcoin's price that year. Epstein stated in the email, "Bitcoin is a brilliant idea, but it also has some serious shortcomings."
In 2013, the frequency of cryptocurrency mentions in Epstein's correspondence increased.
First, there was an email exchange with Boris Nikolic (who once served as Bill Gates' chief technology advisor and was named in Epstein's will), titled "Who Uses Bitcoin Now?". They jokingly and mockingly discussed Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road who was arrested that year, saying that Ross using a Gmail account with his real name was a stupid mistake.
a16z board partner, former president of Microsoft's Windows division, Steven Sinofsky, emailed Epstein saying his Bitcoin investment had already increased by 50%, and shared Timothy B. Lee's article "How Bitcoin Captivated Washington".
He also received news that the once-famous Bitcoin website Satoshi Dice was sold for $11.4 million.
In 2014, Epstein engaged in an in-depth discussion with PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel about the nature of Bitcoin.
This conversation indicates that Epstein was already very familiar with the ideological debates surrounding Bitcoin's nature in the early stages of the cryptocurrency market. He even compared it to gender identity.
Another email shows that Epstein participated in the seed round financing of Bitcoin infrastructure company Blockstream. The total amount of this round was $18 million, and Epstein's investment increased from $50,000 to eventually $500,000.
Blockstream CEO Adam Back recently issued a statement denying any direct or indirect financial connection between the company and Epstein or his estate. He explained that Epstein was once a limited partner in a fund that held a minority stake in Blockstream, but the fund has since completely divested.
However, the names of Adam Back and Austin Hill (Blockstream co-founder) appeared in travel arrangement emails for St. Thomas Island (about 2 miles from "Epstein Island"):
Furthermore, in 2014, Austin Hill emailed Epstein and Joi Ito (former director of the MIT Media Lab; Epstein invested in Blockstream through his fund). He stated that Ripple ($XRP) and Stellar (a new project by Ripple founder Jed McCaleb after leaving Ripple) had a negative impact on the ecosystem Blockstream was building and harmed Blockstream because their investors were "backing two horses in the same race."
The interpretation of this in English-speaking circles has some divergence. Considering the context, my personal interpretation tends to be that Epstein might have also invested in Ripple/Stellar at the time, which caused Blockstream's dissatisfaction, leading Austin Hill to say in the email, "I was asked by other co-founders to reduce or even cancel your allocation."
Although the growth of Ripple and Stellar was not affected, we don't know if more, unknown, excellent cryptocurrency projects have been stifled in their infancy through such behind-the-scenes pressure, from then until now.
In response, former Ripple CTO David Schwartz tweeted, "I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist, but if this is just the tip of the iceberg, I wouldn't be surprised at all."
So does this mean Epstein's evil also existed in the cryptocurrency field? David Schwartz also said that for most ultra-wealthy individuals, having some connection to Bitcoin is probably very common.
Even more, in 2014-2015, the collapse of the Bitcoin Foundation left Bitcoin Core developers without stable salaries. The MIT Media Lab's Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) began paying salaries to several Bitcoin Core developers. Gavin Andresen, Wladimir van der Laan, and Cory Fields, three Bitcoin Core developers, therefore decided to join the MIT Media Lab.
At that time, the scandal had not yet broken, and the public was unaware of Epstein's anonymous donations to the MIT Media Lab. Joi Ito thanked Epstein via email, not only explaining Bitcoin's development operations to Epstein but also stating that thanks to this money, the lab was "able to move quickly and score a huge victory" because "many organizations wanted to take advantage of the situation to control Bitcoin's developers."
Epstein's reply was a simple compliment about Gavin Andresen: "Gavin is very smart."
Did Epstein Meet Satoshi Nakamoto?
In 2016, Epstein emailed Saudi Royal Court advisor Raafat AlSabbagh and current Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism advisor Aziza Al Ahmadi, proposing two "radical ideas for creating two new currencies." One was a "Sharia" dollar; just like all U.S. dollar bills have "In God We Trust," the Middle East could have its own "Sharia" dollar for internal use.
The other idea was to create a digital currency like Bitcoin to make money compliant with Sharia law. Then, after this idea, he casually and lightly dropped this message as if in small talk:
"I have spoken with some of the Bitcoin creators, and they are very excited."
Epstein's purpose at the time might have been more about炫耀 his connections to enhance his reliable image, so he just mentioned it offhand. But this could completely rewrite the entire history of Bitcoin and even the cryptocurrency industry. "Some Bitcoin creators"—does this mean Satoshi Nakamoto was not an individual but a team? If so, many mysteries surrounding Satoshi Nakamoto would have a reasonable explanation.
There are even more thought-provoking questions. Who was this team? What was the motivation for creating Bitcoin? If Epstein really met them, how did he initially find out who they were, and how did he establish a relationship with them? If even Epstein knew who created Bitcoin, wouldn't the U.S. government know? What motive has the U.S. government had for remaining silent on this issue all along?
After this latest batch of Epstein files was disclosed, the probability on the prediction market Polymarket of "Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin address taking action in 2026" rose from about 6% to about 9.3% at one point and is currently holding at 8%.
If Epstein did meet Satoshi Nakamoto, it seems Satoshi did not successfully evangelize Bitcoin to him during their contact. In an email exchange on August 31, 2017, when asked "Is it worth buying one Bitcoin?", Epstein simply replied "No." At that time, one Bitcoin was less than $5,000.
Whether Epstein actually met Satoshi Nakamoto, we currently have no way of knowing. However, we can know that he met the now most famous Bitcoin bull—MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor.
For years, Saylor's determination to only buy and never sell Bitcoin has been堪称变态 (abnormal/extraordinary). But in 2010, he was not yet famous for this identity.
That year, Comrade Saylor spent $25,000 to get into a party set up by Epstein's publicist Peggy Siegal and initially displayed his "autistic" traits at the party. This is how Peggy Siegal described Saylor:
Being called变态 (abnormal/weird) by a变态 (abnormal/weird) subordinate shows just how变态 Saylor really is. Perhaps only a creation as great as Bitcoin could accommodate a变态 like Saylor and allow him to build a great enterprise.
Conclusion
About half of the Epstein files have not yet been disclosed. How many more bombshells related to the cryptocurrency industry are hidden in these remaining files?
Will time clear the fog?
