Reviewing the Epstein Files, Reveals Encounter with Satoshi Nakamoto

On January 30, the U.S. Department of Justice released a large number of "Epstein files" for the first time, immediately attracting global attention and discussion. As we look into whether Musk was "on the island," Bill Gates's extramarital affair, or the fact that Kevin Warsh, a nominee for the next Chair of the Federal Reserve, was also on Epstein's party guest list, these newly disclosed files have also raised a lot of shockwaves about 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 on.

Epstein as a "Crypto OG"?

As early as 2011, Epstein had already shown interest in Bitcoin, a year when Bitcoin's total annual transaction volume was less than $100 million, and the price fluctuated from exceeding $30 to dropping by 90%.

The timestamp of the following email is June 12, 2011, near the peak price of Bitcoin that year. Epstein stated in the email, "Bitcoin is a brilliant idea, but it also has some serious flaws."

In 2013, mentions of cryptocurrency in Epstein's emails became more frequent.

First was an exchange of emails with Boris Nikolic (who had served as Bill Gates's Chief Technology Officer and was named in Epstein's will) with the subject "Who uses Bitcoin now?" They jokingly and mockingly discussed the arrest of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht that year, saying that Ross's use of a Gmail account with his real name was a silly mistake.

a16z Board Partner and former Microsoft Windows Division President Steven Sinofsky wrote to Epstein in an email stating that his Bitcoin investment had already increased by 50% and shared Timothy B. Lee's article "How Bitcoin Seduced Washington."

He also received news of 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 essence of Bitcoin.

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

This conversation indicates that Epstein, in the early stages of the cryptocurrency market, was already very familiar with the ideological debate surrounding the essence of Bitcoin, even analogizing it to gender identity.

Another email shows that Epstein was involved in a seed round investment in the Bitcoin infrastructure company Blockstream, with the total round amounting to $18 million. Epstein's investment started at $50,000 and eventually increased to $500,000.

Blockstream CEO Adam Back recently stated that the company has no direct or indirect financial relationship with Epstein or his estate. He explained that Epstein was once a limited partner in a fund that held a small stake in Blockstream, but later fully divested.

However, the names of Adam Back and Austin Hill (Blockstream co-founder) appeared in travel arrangement emails related to Little Saint James Island (approximately 2 miles from "Epstein Island"):

Additionally, in 2014, Austin Hill emailed Epstein and Joi Ito (former director of the MIT Media Lab, through whom Epstein's fund invested in Blockstream), expressing that Ripple ($XRP) and Stellar (the new project of Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb after leaving Ripple) had a negative impact on the ecosystem Blockstream had built. He claimed they hurt Blockstream because their investors were "backing two horses in the same race simultaneously."

There is also some disagreement in the English-speaking community regarding the interpretation here. Based on the context, the interpretation I personally tend to adopt is that Epstein may have also invested in Ripple/Stellar at the time, which caused dissatisfaction at Blockstream, to the point where Austin Hill stated in an email, "I am being pressured by other founders to reduce or even eliminate your share."

Although Ripple's and Stellar's growth was not affected, we do not know if, from the past to the present, there are more excellent cryptocurrency projects that we are unaware of, being smothered in the cradle through this kind of 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 mean Epstein's evil also exists in the cryptocurrency field? David Schwartz also stated that for most billionaires, having some connection to Bitcoin is likely very common.

Even in 2014-2015, the collapse of the Bitcoin Foundation left Bitcoin Core developers without stable income. The Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) at the MIT Media Lab began paying several Bitcoin Core developers, leading Gavin Andresen, Wladimir van der Laan, and Cory Fields, three Bitcoin Core developers, to join the MIT Media Lab.

At that time, the scandal had not yet been exposed, and the public was unaware of Epstein's anonymous donation to the MIT Media Lab. Joi Ito thanked Epstein via email, not only explaining to Epstein how Bitcoin development works but also stating that thanks to this money, the lab "was able to move quickly and score a big win" because "many organizations wanted to opportunistically control Bitcoin developers."

Epstein's reply was a simple compliment to Gavin Andresen, "Gavin is very smart."

Did Epstein Meet Satoshi Nakamoto?

In 2016, Epstein presented two "radical" ideas to Saudi Royal Court advisor Raafat AlSabbagh and current Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism advisor Aziza Al Ahmadi via email. One was to create a "Sharia-compliant" currency similar to how all US dollar bills have "In God We Trust," the Middle East could have its own "Sharia-compliant" currency for internal use.

The other idea was to create a digital currency similar to Bitcoin to make the currency compliant with Sharia law. Then, almost casually behind this idea, he seemingly dropped this message:

"I have spoken to some Bitcoin creators, and they are very excited."

Epstein's intention at the time may have been more to show off his connections to deepen his own credibility. So, he casually mentioned this, but this could completely rewrite the entire history of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency industry. "Some Bitcoin creators," does this mean that Satoshi Nakamoto is not an individual but a team? If so, then many mysteries surrounding Satoshi Nakamoto would have a reasonable explanation.

There are even more chilling questions to consider. Who is this team? What was the motivation behind creating Bitcoin? If Epstein really met them, then how did he initially find out who they were and how did he establish a relationship with them? If even Epstein knew who the creators of Bitcoin were, wouldn't the US government know? What is the motivation behind the long-standing silence of the US government on this issue?

Following the latest Epstein document disclosures, the likelihood on the Polymarket prediction market of "Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin address moving in 2026" has increased from about 6% to around 9.3%, currently holding at 8%.

If Epstein indeed met Satoshi Nakamoto, it appears that Satoshi did not successfully evangelize Bitcoin to him during their interaction. In an email exchange on August 31, 2017, Epstein bluntly replied "No" to the question of "Is it worth buying one Bitcoin." At that time, one Bitcoin was worth less than $5,000.

We still don't know whether Epstein actually met Satoshi Nakamoto. However, what we do know is that he met the most famous Bitcoin bull of our time — MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor.

Over the years, Saylor's unwavering conviction to buy and never sell Bitcoin has been extraordinary, but back in 2010, he wasn't yet known for this stance.

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

"This guy is just a complete weirdo, utterly charmless, like a drug overdose zombie. We had smart directors at our party sitting next to him and his pretty dolt of a date, and there was no conversation beyond him saying he has a yacht and he's going to Cannes. I tried to show him around, but he was just too weird, so I had to bail. He had no personality, no social skills, and I couldn’t figure out how to get money out of him."

When a weirdo is called out by another weirdo underlings, you can imagine how weird Saylor must be. Perhaps only a great invention like Bitcoin could accommodate someone as peculiar as Saylor and allow him to build a remarkable career.

Conclusion

Approximately half of the Epstein files are still undisclosed. Within these remaining files, how many more bombshells related to the cryptocurrency industry are yet to be revealed?

Will time unveil the mysteries?