The Truth About Epstein & Bitcoin â From One of Bitcoinâs Earliest Investors | Simon Dixon
Feb 03, 2026No time for the full 1h 27m video? Watch the 15-minute AI-generated TL;DR Podcast Style Discussion instead. Or Watch the Ai generated Whiteboard Video Explainer (7m).
Hey hey Sovereign Wealth Builders,
On February 3rd, 2026, I sat down with Nathan on the BTC Sessions YouTube channel for a deep-dive livestream lasting one hour and 28 minutes. We addressed the massive "blast radius" caused by the drop of 3 million documents—files that place Bitcoin Core developers, Blockstream, and Coinbase directly in the crosshairs.
As someone who has navigated the heights of investment banking, invested in over 100 companies, and lived through the front lines of this industry for 15 years, I’m here to give you the unfiltered TLDR. This isn't just a gossip leak; it’s a geopolitical purge. My analysis is that we are witnessing the "power that is still in charge" purging its own assets to weaken the dollar and transition the world into a multipolar financial order. To untangle whether "dirty money" was central to Bitcoin, we have to look past the headlines and into the belly of the beast.
The Epstein Network: A Mechanism for Compromise
To understand these files, you have to realize that the Epstein operation wasn't just one man; it was a century-long network—a "mafia" designed to maintain power by controlling every influential faction in technology, military, media, education and finance. In my opinion this is a Financial Industrial Complex operation.
In this network, "Intelligence Assets" are manufactured. Jeffrey Epstein was manufactured at Bear Stearns to create a story of wealth, then positioned to manage the assets of major financiers like Lex Wexner. His job description was "utility through compromise." The higher you want to climb in this system—whether you're a politician, a CEO, or a developer—the more compromised you must become. By engaging in heinous acts, you are "glued" to the network. You can never rat, and you can never leave.
"Jeffrey Epstein... we are being revealed through the Epstein files what the power that is still in charge...This is not exposing the power. This is the power exposing their assets and purging their assets. The ones that get taken out are no longer useful to the network. The ones that just get their reputation tarnished are being warned."
Bitcoin is Not Apple: Why the Protocol Resists Corruption
The "FUD" currently circulating—claims that Bitcoin was created by Epstein or is a Mossad-controlled asset—misses the point entirely.
Bitcoin is a decentralized protocol, not a corporation like Apple. There is no "centralized backdoor" because the network is composed of independent layers: the open-source GitHub "boardroom," the miners securing the chain, and the node operators enforcing the rules.
The Chess vs. Hasbro Analogy Think of it this way: the CIA or Mossad might control the media, but they do not control the English language. Similarly, a powerful entity can buy Hasbro—the company that manufactures boards—but they cannot change the fundamental rules of the game of Chess. Even if specific players, companies, or "maintainers" in the Bitcoin space are compromised, the protocol itself remains resilient.
The 2011 "Who’s Who": Early Attempts at Infiltration
The 2011 emails show Epstein trying to identify the "who’s who" in Bitcoin two years after its launch. This timeline is critical: it suggests he wasn't involved in its creation but was actively looking for ways to compromise its emerging developers.
One name that surfaced was Amir Taki, then an "activist kid" based on Old Street in London. Taki was a counter-culture developer with zero business experience—the perfect target for a "billionaire" offering funding. I believe Epstein showed interest in funding privacy-focused projects like Dark Wallet or Zcash. While Taki admits he was just a kid who would have jumped at funding, it highlights how early the network began looking for "utility" in privacy features for their own illicit ends.
2014: The Year of Oversubscribed Rounds and Questionable Alliances
By 2014, the industry moved from community donations to professional venture capital. This was the year of the "Capital Pivot." The documents reveal that Epstein was involved in funding rounds for Blockstream and Coinbase, often introduced by figures like Brock Pierce. Blockstream received allocations of $500,000 in Blockstream and $3bn in Coinbase.
Here is the nuance: in 2014, these rounds were oversubscribed. Taking Epstein’s money was a choice, not a necessity. To take money from a man convicted in 2008 of child solicitation suggests either a total failure of due diligence or a willingness to join the "mafia" for growth. Adam Back has since confirmed these meetings on X, but questions remain regarding flight confirmations to Epstein's locations. Furthermore, the documents show the Bitcoin Foundation handed developer funding over to the MIT Digital Currency Initiative (DCI)—a pipeline that Epstein explicitly funded. We also see Peter Thiel, a central node in this "compromise network" and the man who sparked the Silicon Valley Bank run, heavily involved in these funding circles.
"The rule of finance is if you put the money in, you get more control...money is a mechanism of control."
Divide and Conquer: The Hard Fork and Altcoin "Ops"
A classic tactic of "war games" is divide and conquer—creating "separatist movements" to weaken the whole. We saw this during the "Block Size Wars." I remember Brock Pierce—who was closer to Epstein than anyone I know—trying to persuade me for hours that Craig Wright was Satoshi Nakamoto. I believe this was part of a broader Special Operation to fracture the community.
These hard forks, like Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV), were designed to create chaos. By deliberately avoiding replay protection, the network ensured users would lose money and faith. For anyone wanting to understand how these "war games" actually work in a decentralized network, I recommend reading The Blocksize Wars by Jonathan Bier. It’s the manual for understanding how the community fought back against this infiltration.
The Ultimate Gateway: From "Shitcoinery" to the Surveillance State
The most successful operation has been the "altcoin gateway drug." By funneling the industry into "shitcoinery", stablecoins and centralized custody, the network moved people away from Bitcoin’s sovereignty and into "Orwellian" surveillance tools.
Connect the dots: Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) came from a "family of elites" tied to Sullivan & Cromwell (lawyers for the CIA). SBF and Gary Gensler (who is linked to Epstein in the emails) were the only ones getting private meetings while "Operation Chokepoint 2.0" was used to wipe out crypto friendly banks.
This leads directly to the "Tether Operation." Tether is now the 18th largest lender to the US government, held by Cantor Fitzgerald—run by Howard Lutnick. I call him "Lucky Howard" because, like "Lucky Larry" Silverstein on 9/11, Lutnick happened to be away from his office at the top of the Twin Towers that day. Now, he’s a kingpin in the "Bitcoin treasury" movement. Even the "new head of the Fed," Kevin, Wallace appears on the Epstein list.
I’ve seen this "Zionist SCOP" play out personally. I was an investor in Celsius, a company run by Alex Mashinsky, that it later turned out had deep ties to Israeli intelligence circles. I lost $45 million in that "SCOP," but I fought back in court for two years to put Mashinsky in prison. This is my "Proof of Work"—I know how these mafias operate because I’ve bled because of them.
FILE DROP
In July 2014, Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Thiel are explicitly discussing “anti-BTC pressure.”
Thiel asks: “Do you think this is the first step in upping the anti-BTC pressure?”
Epstein replies by attacking Bitcoin’s ambiguity, currency vs property, public ledger, classification, and then says “more when I see you.”
Bitcoin was never meant (by them) to win.
It was meant to prepare the public.
Normalize digital money first, then funnel adoption into systems with kill switches and governors: CBDCs, permissioned stablecoins & regulated rails.
Epstein surfaces around crypto influence networks.
Brock Pierce enters the frame and met with Epstein.
Pierce later becomes tied to Tether—issuer-controlled, permissioned, opaque.
Legal reality: there is no public proof of a formal conspiracy, and courts haven’t ruled on intent. But the pattern, incentives, and paper trail are clear enough for anyone paying attention.
Bottom line:
Bitcoin was a threat to them.
They used it as a gateway drug to CBDCs and stablecoins.
Trump is continuing this trajectory.
Don’t fall for it.
One Bitcoin.
Self-custody.
No issuer.
This is consistent with my previous analysis about Epstein trying to compromise developers…
Remember when @benshapiro insisted there was no Epstein list, no Epstein files, and no human trafficking. We already knew otherwise. Always behind and lying. Who still listens to these intelligence agency connected grifters?
Meanwhile we were already publishing facts from court documents.
Here’s why Epstein was manufactured and why he was created. Unmasking Epstein:
Unmasking the Epstein Bitcoin Theory: JP Morgan Links & the Trump Leverage Game
Was Bitcoin a CIA Project? The Hidden Origins of Satoshi Nakamoto
Epstein's publicist roasted Michael Saylor as "Creepy" “He’s so creepy I don’t even know if I can take his money I don’t even know how to blackmail him he has no personality and doesn’t understand social behavior.”
Emails from the Epstein files show Jeffrey Epstein was allocated a $500k investment in Blockstream’s 2014 seed round (via Joi Ito’s investment company). Allocation was increased at the final close of an oversubscribed $18m round.
Unmasking the Epstein Bitcoin Theory: JP Morgan Links & the Trump Leverage Game
Email from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, surfaced in the Epstein files, dated February 2016 at the height of the Bitcoin block size wars. Armstrong describes Coinbase working behind the scenes to prevent Bitcoin from being “held back by early idealists,” and predicts a hard fork to 2MB blocks within a month or two. That hard fork never happened. The final corporate-backed push, SegWit2x, collapsed in late 2017. The perception that large companies like Coinbase were attempting to steer Bitcoin’s direction was a key reason the effort failed.
Weird An email in the Epstein files sent from an account using the name Anthony Pompliano claims the sender is an IRGC informant, makes unverified allegations involving Trump, and demands money from Mark Epstein. The email was forwarded to the FBI; the document does not authenticate the sender or substantiate the claims.
Epstein emails show Jeffrey Epstein flagging Gary Gensler as a contact interested in digital currencies while facilitating elite policy introductions. Gensler later taught and researched digital currency at MIT, an institution that separately received Epstein funding. As SEC Chair, he held repeated meetings with Sam Bankman-Fried, while his tenure coincided with “Operation Choke Point 2.0.
In this 2015 email, Jeffrey Epstein discusses “following the chain,” cryptocurrencies, zero-knowledge technology, and preventing corruption in Gates Foundation assets. The exchange shows Epstein inserting himself into early crypto and cryptography conversations, seeking influence and proximity, not proving authorship or control.
A 2018 email to Jeffrey Epstein includes Zcash Company K-1 tax documents, detailing income from coin auctions, custody of $ZEC held by the company, and discussion of a potential chain fork. This confirms direct financial involvement with Zcash, not just theoretical interest in crypto. $ZEC has deep ties to Tel Aviv University and is focused on private transactions.
An email from 2014, copied to Jeffrey Epstein, discusses concerns about Stellar and Ripple and investor conflicts. Both projects were founded by Jed McCaleb, who also founded the Mt. Gox exchange before selling it to Mark Karpelès. Mt. Gox collapsed that year with ~850,000 BTC missing. It was sold to Karpelès with 80,000 Bitcoin missing.
An often-circulated image, purportedly from around 2011, claims Jeffrey Epstein emailed “Satoshi Nakamoto” inviting him to his private island to discuss blockchain, followed by a crude rejection. The exchange is unverified and not authenticated, unlike the confirmed Epstein file drop emails above.
In a 2015 email, Jeffrey Epstein discusses funding MIT Media Lab’s “Digital Currency Initiative,” noting gift funds used to move quickly and referencing Gavin Andresen and Bitcoin developers amid the Bitcoin Foundation’s collapse. Important context: Bitcoin developers can’t change Bitcoin unilaterally—code changes require broad consensus from node operators and miners to be adopted. I covered the parts these files miss in my video during the last file drop. youtu.be/UaRkSODDFDI?si
Both founders of @ChaincodeLabs (@suhasdaftuar & @morcosa) + @JeremyRubin, meeting with Jeffrey Epstein: "Thx. Looking forward to it"...
Gavin Andresen was too busy to meet Jeffrey Epstein. He was the first developer that took over from Satoshi Nakamoto.
An internal 2014 email from Austin Hill (then CEO of Blockstream), copied to Jeffrey Epstein, Joichi Ito, and Reid Hoffman, discusses investor conflicts around investing in Stellar and Ripple, warning that backing both was “bad for the ecosystem.”
More on Blockstream & Adam Back from @mattkratter
Who is Andy Back on Epstein's island?
These emails show Jeffrey Epstein discussing NYDFS regulation, whether to lobby Ben Lawsky, suggesting Bitcoin tax policy in New York, expressing personal views on Lawsky, and arranging private meetings—all informally, outside any public process. From my memory, what followed was this: Lawsky went on to implement the BitLicense, imposing extremely strict requirements on any Bitcoin business touching New York. Many companies left or were locked out. Shortly after rolling it out, he resigned and set up a consulting firm advising Bitcoin companies on how to comply with the very regime he created. On its own, none of this proves illegality, but taken together, it shows how regulation, access, and incentives actually work in practice. Regulations protect the real money launderers.
DOJ Epstein files show April 2014 emails where Jeffrey Epstein personally coordinated travel + Ritz-Carlton stays in St. Thomas for a group including Austin Hill and Adam Back (Blockstream). Dates, rooms, logistics—all documented. Primary source, not speculation; justice.gov/epstein/files/
DOJ Epstein files show May–June 2018 emails arranging an in-person meeting between Nouriel Roubini and Jeffrey Epstein at Epstein’s NYC townhouse (9 E 71st St). I remember, this is around the same time Roubini became a public antagonist of Bitcoin and when he publicly blocked me on Twitter.
DOJ Epstein files (Aug 2018) show Bitcoin developer Jeremy Rubin in direct email discussions with Jeffrey Epstein about funding crypto / Layer-1–adjacent projects. Epstein warns some deals are “to pump the currency” and raises “questionable ethics.” When you’ve got Jeffrey Epstein lecturing you on why you shouldn’t be making money from shitcoin pump-and-dump schemes, you’ve got a real problem. đ
2011 emails show Jeffrey Epstein trying to meet influential people in the early Bitcoin community. Jason Calacanis references core Bitcoin developers. Amir Taaki communicates directly with Epstein about arranging meetings. For context: Amir Taaki was the person who invited me to speak at the first Bitcoin conference in Prague in 2011.
Response from Amir
The Truth About Epstein & Bitcoin - Simon Dixon
What we know so far Andy Back On The Island youtu.be/cZU6bXFxCVQ?si via @mattkratter
Who controls Bitcoin Core? (Facts) GitHub commit access is limited to a set of maintainers who can merge reviewed code, not change Bitcoin by decree. Current Bitcoin Core maintainers with commit access include: Marco Falke (2016), Gloria Zhao (2022), Ryan Ofsky (2023), Hennadii Stepanov (2021), Ava Chow (2021), TheCharlatan (added January 26, 2026). Importantly, none of the individuals named in the Epstein files have Bitcoin Core commit access. Even after code is merged: Node operators choose whether to run it Miners choose whether to mine it Users enforce the rules they accept Consensus, not GitHub, decides. Given the sensitivity around trust, those named in the Epstein files should voluntarily distance themselves from GitHub contributions if they want to act in Bitcoin’s best interest and avoid perception risks.
Conclusion: The Sovereign Solution
The "purging" of these files is a warning. The players can be compromised, and the system is rotten to the core. However, the technology remains neutral. Bitcoin and self-custody are the only tools we have to "opt out" of a system that funds pedophiles and debt-slavery.
The "mafia" will try to centralize Bitcoin into ETFs and government-controlled treasuries. They want you to believe that holding your own keys is "funding terrorism," but every accusation is a confession. Bitcoin survived Mount Gox, it survived the Blocksize Wars, and it will survive this purge.
Are you going to be a part of the compromise, or are you going to opt out?
Other Epstein Related Posts
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Disclaimer
This document is a synthesis of a specific interview and represents Simon Dixon’s personal interpretations of public documents, geopolitical theories, and his own extensive experiences within the high-stakes financial and Bitcoin industries. The contents herein do not constitute financial, legal, investment, or investigative advice. It is vital to understand that the names appearing in the Epstein files are being revealed by the power structures still in charge; such disclosures often serve as a purge of no-longer-useful assets or a warning to those still within the network. The presence of a name in these documents does not inherently prove criminal guilt but serves as a demand for total transparency and a reminder to the community to "don't trust, verify" every claim. The author is sharing his perspective as a veteran reformer and investor, and all readers should conduct their own rigorous due diligence before drawing final conclusions about the individuals or entities mentioned.
