Epstein's Top-Secret Emails Exposed: Did He Communicate with Satoshi Nakamoto?

On January 30, the U.S. Department of Justice released a massive trove of "Epstein documents" for the first time, immediately sparking widespread global attention and discussion. While the public focused on whether Musk "went to the island," Bill Gates's extramarital affair, or the appearance of Kevin Warsh, a nominee for the next Federal Reserve Chair, on Epstein's party guest lists, these newly disclosed files also dropped several bombshells related to the cryptocurrency industry.

The history of the cryptocurrency industry may have finally revealed the tip of the iceberg and could be rewritten from this point forward.

Was Epstein a "Crypto OG"?

As early as 2011, Epstein had already taken notice of Bitcoin. That year, Bitcoin's total annual trading volume had not yet exceeded $100 million, and its price had surged past $30 only to plummet by 90%.

The email below is dated June 12, 2011, coinciding with Bitcoin's price peak that year. In the email, Epstein states, "Bitcoin is a brilliant idea, but it has some serious drawbacks."

By 2013, references to cryptocurrency became more frequent in Epstein's email correspondence.

First, there was an exchange with Boris Nikolic (who served as Bill Gates's chief science advisor and was named in Epstein's will), with the email subject "Who uses Bitcoin now?". They jokingly and mockingly discussed Ross Ulbricht, the arrested founder of Silk Road, calling his use of a Gmail account with his real name a foolish mistake.

Steven Sinofsky, an a16z board partner and former president of the Windows division at Microsoft, emailed Epstein to inform him that his Bitcoin investment had increased by 50% and shared Timothy B. Lee's article "How Bitcoin Won Over Washington."

He also received news about the sale of the once-famous Bitcoin website Satoshi Dice for $11.4 million.

In 2014, Epstein engaged in an in-depth discussion with PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel about the nature of Bitcoin.

"There is no consensus on what Bitcoin is—a store of value, a currency, or property... It's like a man dressing as a woman, like property masquerading as currency."

This exchange shows that Epstein was already very familiar with the ideological debates surrounding Bitcoin's nature in the early stages of the crypto market, even drawing an analogy to gender identity.

Another email reveals that Epstein participated in the seed round financing for Bitcoin infrastructure company Blockstream. The total funding round was $18 million, with Epstein's investment increasing from an initial $50,000 to a final $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 a limited partner in a fund that once held a minority stake in Blockstream but has since fully divested.

However, the names of Adam Back and Austin Hill (Blockstream co-founder) appear in travel arrangement emails for St. Thomas (located 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). Hill stated that Ripple ($XRP) and Stellar (the new project by Ripple founder Jed McCaleb after leaving Ripple) negatively impacted the ecosystem Blockstream was building and harmed Blockstream because their investors were "backing two horses in the same race."

There is some debate in the English-speaking community regarding the interpretation here. Based on the context, my personal interpretation leans towards the possibility that Epstein may have also invested in Ripple/Stellar at the time, which caused dissatisfaction at Blockstream, leading Austin Hill to state in the email, "I have been asked by other co-founders to reduce or even eliminate your allocation."

While the growth of Ripple and Stellar was not hindered, we do not know how many other promising cryptocurrency projects, past and present, may have been stifled in their infancy through such behind-the-scenes pressure.

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 indicate Epstein's evil extended into the cryptocurrency realm? David Schwartz also noted that for most ultra-wealthy individuals, having some connection to Bitcoin is probably quite common.

Furthermore, around 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 several Bitcoin Core developers, leading Gavin Andresen, Wladimir van der Laan, and Cory Fields to decide 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 emailed Epstein to express gratitude, explaining Bitcoin's development operations and stating that thanks to the money, the lab was "able to move quickly and score a huge victory" because "many organizations were trying to take advantage and control Bitcoin's developers."

Epstein's reply was a simple compliment about Gavin Andresen: "Gavin is smart."

Did Epstein Meet Satoshi Nakamoto?

In 2016, Epstein emailed Saudi Royal Court advisor Raafat AlSabbagh and Aziza Al Ahmadi, now an advisor at the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, proposing two "radical ideas for creating two new currencies." One was a "Sharia Dollar"—just as all U.S. dollar bills bear "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, following this idea, he casually dropped this bombshell as if making small talk:

"I have spoken with some of the Bitcoin creators, and they are very excited."

Epstein's intention at the time was likely to boast about his connections to enhance his credibility, so he mentioned it offhand. However, this statement could completely rewrite the history of Bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency industry. "Some of the Bitcoin creators"—does this imply Satoshi Nakamoto was not an individual but a team? If so, many mysteries surrounding Satoshi would have plausible explanations.

There are even more chilling questions. Who was this team? What was their motivation for creating Bitcoin? If Epstein truly met them, how did he initially learn who they were and establish a relationship? If even Epstein knew who Bitcoin's creators were, would the U.S. government not know? What motives has the U.S. government, which has remained silent on this issue, had all along?

Following the release of this latest batch of Epstein documents, the probability of "Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin addresses becoming active in 2026" on the prediction market Polymarket rose from about 6% to approximately 9.3% and currently stands at 8%.

If Epstein did meet Satoshi Nakamoto, it seems Satoshi was unsuccessful in evangelizing Bitcoin to him during their contact. In an email exchange on August 31, 2017, when asked "Is it worth buying a Bitcoin?", Epstein bluntly replied, "No." At that time, one Bitcoin was worth less than $5,000.

Whether Epstein actually met Satoshi Nakamoto remains unknown. However, we do know he met the most famous Bitcoin bull today—MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor.

For years, Saylor's discipline of only buying and never selling Bitcoin has been described as extreme. But in 2010, he was not yet famous for this identity.

That year, Saylor spent $25,000 to attend a party organized by Epstein's publicist Peggy Siegal, where he initially displayed his "autistic" traits. Peggy Siegal described Saylor as follows:

"This guy is a total freak, completely charmless, like a drug-overdosed zombie. We had smart directors at our party, sitting right next to him and his pretty, idiotic girlfriend, with no conversation beyond 'I have a yacht' and 'I'm going to Cannes.' I took him around, but he was so weird I had to run away. He has no personality, no social skills. I don't even know how to get money from him."

Being called extreme by a perverse associate shows just how extreme Saylor is. Perhaps only a great invention like Bitcoin could accommodate an extreme individual like Saylor, allowing him to build a great enterprise.

Conclusion

Approximately half of the Epstein documents remain undisclosed. How many more cryptocurrency-related bombshells are hidden within these remaining files?

Will time clear the fog?