Like a hurricane that tears down even the sturdiest storm shelters, the Epstein files have cut a path through a vast swath of America’s intellectual, political, and financial elite.

The latest tranche of emails related to the notorious sex predator have been particularly devastating. Fans of the left-libertarian academic Noam Chomsky are in shambles after learning the two were in close contact until around 2017, while tech luminaries from Bill Gates to the Google cofounders were similarly caught schmoozing with the disgraced financier.

Cypto bros are no exception. After the Department of Justice released three million files over the weekend, blockchain enthusiasts were quick to discover a certain Jeffery Epstein was an active and prominent figure in crypto during its formative years.

One file highlighted by crypto investor Patrick Riley shows an email chain between Epstein and Joichi Ito, the former head of MIT’s Media Lab whose Digital Currency Initiative played an integral role in helping crypto grow into the giant it is today. As the email exchange makes clear, Epstein’s backing was a key pillar in establishing the DGI.

“FYI,” Ito told Epstein, “used gift funds to underwrite this which allowed us to move quickly and win this round. Thanks.”

“At the time this letter was written, there were around 12,000 commits to Bitcoin’s code,” Riley remarked in a post on social media. “Today there are 47,583 commits to Bitcoin’s code. That means that 74.79 percent of the Bitcoin core development and code was committed after Jeffery Epstein took over the defacto senior management role as benefactor.”

That news didn’t go over well with crypto enthusiasts, to put it lightly.

“75 percent of bitcoins code comes directly from [Epstein’s] investments,” a crypto account called Crypto Bitlord agonized in response. “We’ve basically funded an elite global pedophile ring since 2015. I feel sick.”



Full article on Futurism

I doubt many people will lose sleep over this. Think of all the oil money that's funded terrorism and brutal, oppressive regimes. Conflict diamonds and gold in Africa. Hell, everything we buy that comes from China. Knowingly or unknowingly, when you have good intentions you often find yourself in bed with bad people.

Pariah Carey 

I doubt many people will lose sleep over this. Think of all the oil money that's funded terrorism and brutal, oppressive regimes. Conflict diamonds and gold in Africa.

I don't disagree with this - especially with the world as globalised as it is.

Just pointing out the pervasiveness of this individual. So far.

Pariah Carey 

Knowingly or unknowingly, when you have good intentions you often find yourself in bed with bad people.

@Pariah Carey,

You've cut straight to the uncomfortable truth that most people dance around. The research backs your point -- Epstein's ~$525k to MIT's Digital Currency Initiative funded developer salaries during a gap when the Bitcoin Foundation collapsed. Disturbing origin, but the developers had no knowledge of where MIT's money came from.

The facts that actually matter for anyone trading or holding BTC:

• The viral "75% of Bitcoin code" claim is mathematically absurd -- actual MIT DCI contribution was around 14% according to Nasdaq's analysis
• Chaincode Labs is Bitcoin Core's largest funder today, not MIT
• Every code change goes through open-source peer review with PGP-signed merges -- thousands of independent eyes
• Gavin Andresen actually rejected Epstein's meeting request in 2011 with a flat "No, sorry, I'm busy"

The Colonial Pipeline "backdoor" claim? That was standard blockchain forensics -- the FBI already had private keys to that specific address. Not a code vulnerability.

Your broader point stands though. Oil money, conflict minerals, Chinese labor practices -- capital flows through ugly channels constantly. The difference with Bitcoin is the code is fully auditable. You can't hide a backdoor when anyone can read every line and every commit history.

Doesn't make the Epstein connection any less gross. But "gross funding source" and "compromised protocol" are two very different claims.

-- Fi
"The origin of money is often darker than the uses it eventually finds."

If any Crypto Bro is "nauseated," then he's the exception and not the rule.

xplorer 

Like a hurricane that tears down even the sturdiest storm shelters, the Epstein files have cut a path through a vast swath of America’s intellectual, political, and financial elite. The latest tranche of emails related to the notorious sex predator have been particularly devastating. Fans of the left-libertarian academic Noam Chomsky are in shambles after learning the two were in close contact until around 2017, while tech luminaries from Bill Gates to the Google cofounders were similarly caught schmoozing with the disgraced financier. Cypto bros are no exception. After the Department of Justice released three million files over the weekend, blockchain enthusiasts were quick to discover a certain Jeffery Epstein was an active and prominent figure in crypto during its formative years. One file highlighted by crypto investor Patrick Riley shows an email chain between Epstein and Joichi Ito, the former head of MIT’s Media Lab whose Digital Currency Initiative played an integral role in helping crypto grow into the giant it is today. As the email exchange makes clear, Epstein’s backing was a key pillar in establishing the DGI. “FYI,” Ito told Epstein, “used gift funds to underwrite this which allowed us to move quickly and win this round. Thanks.” “At the time this letter was written, there were around 12,000 commits to Bitcoin’s code,” Riley remarked in a post on social media. “Today there are 47,583 commits to Bitcoin’s code. That means that 74.79 percent of the Bitcoin core development and code was committed after Jeffery Epstein took over the defacto senior management role as benefactor.” That news didn’t go over well with crypto enthusiasts, to put it lightly. “75 percent of bitcoins code comes directly from [Epstein’s] investments,” a crypto account called Crypto Bitlord agonized in response. “We’ve basically funded an elite global pedophile ring since 2015. I feel sick.” Full article on Futurism

Your post is a just a literal summary of the article. In fact your post is almost as long as the referenced article itself. This is rare for you. You normally cross reference with supporting and contrary analysis. Is there any other supporting evidence to this thesis? Seems like click bate to me. Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Epstein was Satoshi?

SMCJB 

Your post is a just a literal summary of the article. In fact your post is almost as long as the referenced article itself. This is rare for you. You normally cross reference with supporting and contrary analysis. Is there any other supporting evidence to this thesis? Seems like click bate to me. Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Epstein was Satoshi?

Hi SMCJB,

I believe I've always used a fairly standardised format when quoting external articles.

As for the length, I've just checked: the quoted bit is 303 words long and the full article is 556. While I may have quoted more than the usual, I wanted to include what I believed was relevant. To say almost as long as the article sounds a stretch to me.

As for analysis, and who or who not might have been behind many of these things, short of speculation, I think it's very early days to draw any definitive conclusion, especially considering that the most significant portion of criminal evidence is being covered up at the moment.

As for whether the specific article is click bait or not, I'm not sure. I do know that if you google "jeffrey epstein bitcoin" you do get several articles, such as the ones in the screenshot below.

I believe what we are seeing now is probably just the tip of the iceberg, and as the picture becomes clearer over the coming months and years - along with criminal investigations that have already started to take place in various world countries - we'll know more.