Epstein's released files contain emails to key Bitcoin developers
As part of the publication of Epstein's files, the US Department of Justice released new emails. They showed that Jeffrey Epstein contacted Bitcoin developer Gavin Andresen two days before he visited CIA headquarters to discuss cryptocurrency in June 2011. The event also coincided almost exactly with the moment when the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, stopped posting messages in private correspondence and thematic forums where the main cryptocurrency was discussed.
Chronology of events
It should be noted that the first half of 2011 was marked by rapid price growth for Bitcoin—in the first six months of the year, the exchange rate rose by thousands of percent, from approximately $0.3 to more than $24. Exchanges such as Mt.Gox and BitcoinMarket were already operating that year, and new platforms were launched, including Britcoin, Bitcoin Brazil, VirWoX, and Bitomat.
On April 26, 2011, Satoshi sent Andresen his last known message, asking him to downplay his role as a “mysterious and behind-the-scenes” figure.
On April 27, 2011, Andresen publicly announced that he would be giving a presentation on Bitcoin at CIA headquarters in June at a conference on new technologies for the US intelligence community.
“I accepted the invitation to speak because the fact that I was invited means that Bitcoin is already on their radar, which could be a good opportunity to talk about why I think Bitcoin will make the world a better place,” Andresen wrote at the time.
Many speculate that it was precisely the fact that Andresen was invited to speak at the CIA that may have influenced Satoshi's decision to cease public activity. At the same time, a theory arose that Bitcoin was a CIA project.
On June 6, journalist and socialite Jason Calacanis replied to Epstein's letter, promising to send him Andresen's contact details.
“I would like to get in touch with the guys from Bitcoin,” Epstein wrote to Calacanis eight days before Andresen's meeting at the CIA.
Two days before his CIA presentation, Epstein wrote to Andresen himself and asked him to call him, but it is unclear from the messages in the published archive whether the conversation between Andresen and Epstein took place. It is known that Andresen declined invitations to meet with Epstein in person, and there is no evidence of active correspondence between them.
The conference itself took place on June 14, where, according to Andresen himself, he even managed to sell a certain amount of bitcoins to a CIA agent.
Investing in Bitcoin
Among the published documents, there was also a letter from June 2011 in which Epstein called Bitcoin a “brilliant idea” but warned of “serious flaws.”
According to Ki Young Ju, founder of the major blockchain analytics platform CryptoQuant, citing some of the letters, Epstein even invested in Bitcoin and various crypto projects in 2011. However, Ju writes that Epstein hardly believed that the first cryptocurrency would enter the mainstream and preferred short-term trading to long-term storage.
This opinion is indirectly confirmed by later correspondence. In 2017, when asked directly, “Is it worth buying Bitcoin?” Epstein replied succinctly: “No.”
In addition to Andresen, other representatives of the crypto market are also mentioned in connection with Epstein. According to Cointelegraph, crypto investor and Tether co-founder Brock Pierce had been in contact with Epstein on multiple occasions since 2011. Correspondence showed that Pearce discussed investment opportunities in Coinbase with him and may have acted as an intermediary in the deal. And in 2018, one of the participants in the correspondence, presumably Epstein, claimed that Pearce taught him “everything about cryptocurrency.”
Adam Back, head of Blockstream and one of the most prominent Bitcoin developers, also appears in the materials related to Epstein's investments. In 2014, Epstein participated in Blockstream's $18 million seed round, investing $50,000 through the MIT Media Lab director's fund. As Back himself stated, commenting on the correspondence, the relationship was limited to this transaction, and the fund soon sold its shares due to a conflict of interest, emphasizing that Blockstream has no financial ties to Epstein or his heirs.