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After Coinbase\u2019s early funding hyperlinks to intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein, new information by the US Department of Justice despatched shockwaves via the crypto group because it reveals title of early Bitcoin builders and traders. It has triggered a pointy downturn in BTC value and sparked backlash in opposition to distinguished figures like Blockstream CEO Adam Back, lead developer Gavin Andresen, and Tether co-founder Brock Pierce.<\/p>\n
Epstein information reveal Epstein\u2019s investments and early connections within the Bitcoin ecosystem relationship again to the mid-2010s. Jeffrey Epstein invested as much as $500,000 in Blockstream, a Bitcoin infrastructure firm co-founded by Austin Hill and cypherpunk Adam Back, throughout its 2014 seed spherical. The deal was facilitated via former MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito.<\/p>\n
Hill emailed Ito and Epstein to say he would improve their allocation in Blockstream at different traders\u2019 expense. \u201cWe are 10x oversubscribed on an $18m seed round and Reid at the last minute told us to bump your allocation from $50k to $500k,\u201d Austin Hill wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n Critics assert that early Bitcoin Core builders have been influenced via Epstein-linked funding channels to purposely restrict the community\u2019s on-chain scaling and grow to be a risk to fiat and banking methods.<\/p>\n Adam Back has confronted backlash and requested to resign for compromising Bitcoin scaling. However, Back has denied direct private hyperlinks to Jeffrey Epstein and claims Blockstream severed ties with Epstein a few years in the past.<\/p>\n Blockstream co-founder Austin Hill and crew members Kelly Zakka, Ellaina Atra, Francesca Hall\u2019s names appeared within the emails with Epstein, in line with ColinTalksCrypto<\/a>.<\/p>\n I used to be an preliminary contributor to Blockstream and Adam promised me I\u2019d be listed as a co-founder and be handled the identical as different co-founders. Adam broke that promise, betrayed my belief, and minimize me out.<\/p>\n I used to be by no means concerned in Blockstream’s fundraising and had no information or\u2026<\/p>\n \u2014 Luke Dashjr (@LukeDashjr) February 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
Mentions of Gavin Andresen and Tether\u2019s Brock Pierce in Epstein Files<\/h2>\n