Epstein's Top-Secret Emails Revealed: Did He Have a Conversation with Satoshi Nakamoto?

January 30th, the U.S. Department of Justice disclosed the “Epstein Files” for the first time in large quantities, immediately sparking widespread attention and discussion worldwide. When we see whether Elon Musk “went to the island,” Bill Gates’ extramarital affairs, or the next Federal Reserve Chair nominee Kevin Warsh appearing on Epstein’s party invitation list, these newly released documents also throw a lot of shocking revelations about the cryptocurrency industry.

The history of the cryptocurrency industry may finally be revealing just the tip of the iceberg and rewriting itself from here.

Was Epstein a “Crypto OG”?

As early as 2011, Epstein had already taken an interest in Bitcoin. That year, the total transaction volume of Bitcoin for the entire year was less than $100 million, and its price once surged past $30 before dropping 90%.

The email below is dated June 12, 2011, just 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 flaws.”

In 2013, Epstein’s correspondence increasingly involved cryptocurrencies.

First, there was an email exchange with Boris Nikolic (who served as Bill Gates’ chief technology advisor and was listed in Epstein’s will), titled “Who still uses Bitcoin now?” They mockingly discussed Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road who was arrested that year, saying that Ross’s use of a Gmail account with his real name was a foolish mistake.

Steven Sinofsky, a board member of a16z and former president of Microsoft’s Windows division, told Epstein in an email that his Bitcoin investments had already increased by 50%, sharing an article by Timothy B. Lee titled “How Bitcoin Enchanted Washington.”

He also received news that the famous Bitcoin website Satoshi Dice was sold for $11.4 million.

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

“There is no consensus on what Bitcoin actually is—whether it’s a store of value, a currency, or property… like men dressing as women, or property disguising itself as currency.”

This conversation indicates that Epstein was already very familiar with the ideological debates surrounding Bitcoin in its early stages, even comparing it to gender identity.

Another email shows Epstein participated in the seed round financing of Blockstream, a Bitcoin infrastructure company, which raised a total of $18 million. Epstein’s investment grew from $50,000 to ultimately $500,000.

Blockstream CEO Adam Back recently issued a statement denying any direct or indirect financial ties between the company and Epstein or his estate. He explained that Epstein was a limited partner in a fund that held a minority stake in Blockstream, but that the fund had since fully divested.

However, the names Adam Back and Austin Hill (co-founder of Blockstream) appeared in travel correspondence emails related to trips to Saint Thomas Island (about 2 miles from “Epstein Island”):

Additionally, in 2014, Austin Hill emailed Epstein and Joi Ito (former director of MIT Media Lab, through whom Epstein invested in Blockstream), stating that Ripple ($XRP) and Stellar (a project launched after Ripple’s founder Jed McCaleb left Ripple) negatively impacted the ecosystem built by Blockstream, harming it because their investors “support two horses in a race at the same time.”

There is some disagreement in the English-speaking community about this interpretation. Based on the context, I personally lean toward the view that Epstein may have also invested in Ripple/Stellar, which caused dissatisfaction at Blockstream, leading Austin Hill to say in the email, “I was asked by other co-founders to reduce or even cancel your share.”

Although Ripple and Stellar’s growth were not affected, we don’t know whether, from the past to the present, more excellent cryptocurrency projects have been stifled in their infancy through behind-the-scenes pressure.

In response, Ripple’s former 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.”

Does this mean Epstein’s evil also extends into the cryptocurrency field? David Schwartz also said that for most ultra-rich individuals, having connections with Bitcoin might be very common.

In fact, between 2014 and 2015, the collapse of the Bitcoin Foundation left Bitcoin Core developers without stable salaries. MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) began paying several Bitcoin Core developers—Gavin Andresen, Wladimir van der Laan, and Cory Fields—who then decided to join MIT Media Lab.

At that time, the scandal had not yet been exposed, and the public was unaware of Epstein’s anonymous donations to MIT Media Lab. Joi Ito expressed gratitude to Epstein via email, explaining Bitcoin’s development process and saying that thanks to this funding, the lab could “act quickly and achieve great victories,” because “many organizations want to take advantage and control Bitcoin’s development.”

Epstein’s reply was a simple compliment to Gavin Andresen: “Gavin is very smart.”

Did Epstein Meet Satoshi Nakamoto?

In 2016, Epstein proposed two “radical, create two new currencies” ideas via email to Raafat AlSabbagh, a Saudi royal court advisor, and Aziza Al Ahmadi, an advisor to the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism. One was a “Sharia Law” yuan, similar to how all US dollar bills have “In God We Trust,” Middle Eastern countries could have their own “Sharia Law” yuan for internal use.

The other idea was to create a digital currency similar to Bitcoin, to make money compliant with Sharia Law. Behind this idea, Epstein casually mentioned:

“I have already communicated with some Bitcoin creators, and they are very excited.”

At the time, Epstein’s purpose might have been more about flaunting his connections to enhance his credibility, casually mentioning it. But this could potentially rewrite the entire history of Bitcoin and even the cryptocurrency industry. Does “some Bitcoin creators” imply that Satoshi Nakamoto is not an individual but a team? If so, many mysteries surrounding Satoshi could be reasonably explained.

There are even more disturbing questions. Who is this team? What motivated the creation of Bitcoin? If Epstein really met them, how did he initially learn who they were and establish a relationship? If Epstein knew who the creators of Bitcoin were, would the U.S. government be unaware? Why has the U.S. government remained silent on this issue all along?

After the latest Epstein files were disclosed, the market prediction on Polymarket for “Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin address moving in 2026” rose from about 6% to around 9.3%, currently holding at 8%.

If Epstein really met Satoshi Nakamoto, it seems Satoshi did not successfully evangelize Bitcoin to him. In a correspondence on August 31, 2017, Epstein responded “No” when asked if it was worth buying a Bitcoin. At that time, one Bitcoin was less than $5,000.

Whether Epstein ever met Satoshi remains unknown. But we do know he met the current most prominent Bitcoin advocate—MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor.

Over the years, Saylor’s unwavering commitment to buying and holding Bitcoin has been extraordinary, but in 2010, he was not yet famous for this identity.

That year, Saylor spent $25,000 to attend Epstein’s PR event organized by Peggy Siegal, where he initially displayed traits of “autism.” Peggy Siegal described Saylor as:

“This guy is a complete freak, uncharismatic, like a zombie overdosed on drugs. At our party, there were smart directors sitting next to him and his pretty idiot girl, and besides mentioning that he has a yacht and plans to go to Cannes, there was no other conversation. I took him around, but he was so strange I had to leave. He has no personality and doesn’t understand socializing—I couldn’t figure out how to get money from him.”

Being called a freak by a freak shows how truly abnormal Saylor is. Perhaps only a great invention like Bitcoin can accommodate such a freak Saylor and build a great career.

Conclusion

Currently, about half of Epstein’s files have yet to be disclosed. How many more shocking revelations related to the cryptocurrency industry are hidden in the remaining documents?

Will time clear the fog?