There have been a lot of claims online that Bitcoin was initially funded by Jeffrey Epstein, the American financier and sex offender. This claim has spread widely because of newly released emails and documents that are part of the Epstein Files. These files contain millions of pages of information that the U.S. Department of Justice just made public.
Some of the emails mention early cryptocurrency players and institutions. But the big question is this: Did Epstein actually fund Bitcoin itself or help create it?
David Adubiina
Who Jeffrey Epstein Was and Why His Name Keeps Appearing
Jeffrey Epstein was a U.S. financier who was convicted in 2008 for sex crimes involving minors and later arrested again in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges. He died in jail while awaiting trial. Beyond his crimes, Epstein was known for building close ties with powerful people in politics, business, academia, and technology.
The Financial Times described his network as a “social Ponzi scheme,” where he used money, access, and favours to stay close to influential people even after his conviction.
Because of recent court orders and transparency laws, the U.S. Department of Justice has released millions of pages of emails and documents linked to Epstein. These files show how wide his network was.
This is why names like Bill Gates, Noam Chomsky, and leaders in tech and finance keep appearing in news reports. Many of these people say they regret their contact with him or deny knowing the full extent of his crimes at the time.
The MIT Media Lab And The Digital Currency Initiative
One of the strongest real links between Epstein and crypto comes from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2019, MIT admitted that it accepted money connected to Epstein after his 2008 conviction. MIT president L.
Rafael Reif publicly apologised in a statement, saying, “Last and most importantly, to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, on behalf of the MIT administration, I offer a profound and humble apology. With hindsight, we recognise with shame and distress that we allowed MIT to contribute to the elevation of his reputation, which in turn served to distract from his horrifying acts.”
Inside MIT, the Media Lab ran a program called the Digital Currency Initiative, often called the DCI. This group has done important research on Bitcoin, privacy, and digital money. According to MIT’s own fact-finding report on its relationship with Epstein, the Media Lab accepted funds connected to Epstein after his 2008 conviction, a decision MIT later said was wrong.
Emails released later showed that Joi Ito, the former head of the Media Lab, kept Epstein close and sometimes used his money indirectly.
In one email, Ito wrote to Epstein, “FYI, used gift funds to underwrite this which allowed us to move quickly and win this round. Thanks.”
The key point here is this. Epstein helped fund MIT Media Lab activities, and some of that support indirectly helped the Digital Currency Initiative operate. This is real and documented. It is also why Ito resigned in 2019 and issued a public apology, saying he made “an error of judgment.”
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Does MIT Funding Mean Epstein Funded Bitcoin Itself?
Bitcoin is an open-source software. It was launched in 2009 and is developed by thousands of people around the world. No single school, company, or donor controls Bitcoin. The MIT Digital Currency Initiative did research and supported some developers, but it does not own or run Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Core, the main software used by the network, is built in public. Anyone can see the code and the history of changes. Researchers and developers have explained many times that Bitcoin development is spread across hundreds of contributors. A study of Bitcoin Core governance published through the ACM Digital Library shows that Bitcoin’s changes come from long debates, peer review, and broad agreement among developers.
So, while MIT researchers helped study and improve Bitcoin, this does not mean Bitcoin was funded or controlled by Epstein.
One of the most viral claims says that about 75 per cent of Bitcoin’s code was written after Epstein became a key funder, and therefore, Bitcoin is somehow his project. This claim is misleading.
Bitcoin’s codebase grows over time. New commits include small fixes, documentation updates, testing tools, and security improvements. Counting commits does not mean control or ownership. Experts in open-source development say this kind of math is meaningless when used this way.
Bitcoin developers have explained that Bitcoin Core has thousands of commits because software must be maintained. A report from MEXC Exchange in January 2026 showed that in 2025 alone, 135 developers contributed code, with hundreds of thousands of lines changed. This shows ongoing community work, not influence from one donor years ago.
Jemi Motesho
Adam Back, Blockstream, And Epstein Emails
Adam Back is a well-known cryptographer and an early Bitcoin contributor. He is also the CEO of Blockstream, a Bitcoin infrastructure company. Emails released in the Epstein files show that Back and Blockstream cofounder Austin Hill were in contact with Epstein around 2014 and 2015. There were discussions about meetings and possible funding.
This caused a strong reaction online. In response, Adam Back publicly denied that Epstein funded Bitcoin or controlled Blockstream. In a post on X, Back said, “Blockstream has no direct nor indirect financial connection with Jeffrey Epstein, or his estate.” He said that while emails existed, no investment went forward and any contact ended years ago.
Blockstream has repeated this denial multiple times, saying Epstein never funded Bitcoin development.
So, was Bitcoin really funded by Jeffrey Epstein?
Epstein did have contact with people in crypto and academia. He did help fund parts of the MIT Media Lab, which supported research on digital currency. That is real and troubling. But Bitcoin itself is not funded, owned, or controlled by Epstein. Claims that most of Bitcoin’s code exists because of him are false and misunderstand how open-source software works.
The story is not about Bitcoin being Epstein’s project. It is about how one powerful man used money to stay close to important institutions, and how those institutions failed to draw clear lines soon enough.
That lesson matters far beyond crypto.
Jemi Motesho
