The newest set of Epstein recordsdata, which the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched final week, confirmed the convicted intercourse offender’s ties to crypto as he backed crypto alternate Coinbase in an early funding spherical and Adam Back’s Blockstream. These recordsdata have additionally sparked feedback within the crypto neighborhood, with Bitcoin advocate Jack Maller defending the Bitcoin community.
Esptein Files Reveal Investments In Coinbase and Blockstream
The DOJ files present that Jeffrey Epstein invested round $3 million in Coinbase’s sequence C funding spherical in 2014 by an entity known as IGO Company, LLC. The Epstein recordsdata additionally confirmed correspondence that Brock Pierce, a former managing associate at Blockchain Capital, helped dealer the deal.
However, a Blockchain Capital spokesperson told Decrypt that though Pierce was involved with Epstein concerning the fundraising, they didn’t full the fund funding, and that Epstein independently invested by his personal entity, IGO Company. “We don’t have visibility into Mr. Epstein’s motivations for the Coinbase investment,” the consultant added.
It is value mentioning that Epstein was already a convicted intercourse offender prior to his funding in Coinbase. A Florida courtroom convicted him in 2008 after he pleaded responsible to procuring a minor for prostitution.
Meanwhile, the Epstein recordsdata additionally confirmed that Brad Stephens, Blockchain Capital’s co-founder, contacted Epstein’s lawyer, Darren Indyke, in 2018 to inquire whether or not his consumer was all for promoting his place within the top crypto exchange for $15 million, which represented a 5x achieve on the $3 million funding. At the time, Coinbase had a $1.6 billion valuation, up from the $400 million valuation when Epstein invested.
However, Indyke acknowledged that Coinbase’s valuation was already above $3 billion, and proposed a good provide of $11 million for 50% of Epstein’s Coinbase place.
Investment In Adam Back’s Blockstream
The Epstein recordsdata additionally included correspondence that indicated that the convicted intercourse offender had invested in Adam Back’s Blockstream by one other funding fund. Blockstream is a blockchain agency that develops infrastructure on the top-layer 1 network, Bitcoin. In an X publish, Back addressed this, noting that there was no direct connection between Esptein and his agency.
The Bitcoin advocate acknowledged that in Blockstream’s seed-round investor roadshow, the corporate held a gathering with former MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito. This subsequently led to a gathering with Epstein, who Back famous was described on the time as a restricted associate in Ito’s fund, which later invested a minority stake in Blockstream.
He additional revealed that ito’s fund later divested its funding in Blockstream shares due to a possible battle of curiosity and different considerations. “Blockstream has no direct nor indirect financial connection with Jeffrey Epstein, or his estate,” he added.
It is value noting that the oblique funding in Back’s Blockstream isn’t the one tie that Epstein has to the early Bitcoin ecosystem. The Epstein recordsdata that the DOJ launched final 12 months confirmed that Epstein had despatched Epstein despatched $850,000 to MIT between 2002 and 2017. Part of those funds supported the MIT Digital Currency Initiative, which funded Bitcoin Core builders.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin advocate Jack Maller has defended the Bitcoin community, describing it as a “neutral, open-source public utility. He further remarked that BTC is not a person or institution and has no secrets. “Corrupt people do not get to rob humanity of our chance to fix the mess we inherited. Bitcoin is the solution, not the problem,” he added.
