Bitcoin touched 60k yesterday, and the move down was fast. Way faster than most traders expected. I personally thought we would see much more support at 69k, not just because it was the 2021 ATH, but also because it acted as resistance during the 2024 run-up. There was a ton of volume traded around that level.
This time we sliced through it like it wasn’t even there.
I tried a few longs between 65k and 63k. Tight stops, because nobody wants to get nuked by a random liquidation candle. It didn’t play out. A few small losses, a few small wins, and I still ended the day red.
That’s trading sometimes.
While Bitcoin was bleeding, a few narratives completely took over the timeline. First, the rumors about Binance being insolvent. But another one stood out for pure shock value.
Did Epstein create Bitcoin? Can the real Satoshi please stand up?
Did Jeffrey Epstein invent Bitcoin?
The short answer is no. The long answer is also no, but the internet decided to lose its mind anyway.
A wave of viral posts claimed that Jeffrey Epstein was the real Satoshi Nakamoto. The story was fueled by a supposed email where Epstein allegedly bragged about Bitcoin being his “little digital gold mine.”
It sounds insane because it is.
A detailed fact check by France24 quickly debunked the claim. The email showed clear formatting errors, used the wrong email address, and did not appear anywhere in the official DOJ Epstein Files.
The alleged email even had two “To:” lines. Not exactly how secret genius billionaires usually communicate.
France24 also confirmed that the phrase “little digital gold mine” does not appear anywhere in the DOJ archive. The email address used in the viral screenshot didn’t match Epstein’s known accounts either.
So no, Epstein was not Satoshi. Not even close.
But here’s where it gets uncomfortable.
Epstein and Bitcoin did cross paths
While Epstein didn’t invent Bitcoin, he absolutely circled around crypto early on. And not in a passive way.
In 2014, Epstein invested $3 million into Coinbase. Yes, the same Coinbase that later went public and became the largest US-based crypto exchange.
His stake was small, less than one percent, and he had no governance role. Still, the timing matters.
This was when crypto was still niche, weird, and far from mainstream. Epstein had access to deals most people couldn’t even dream of.
Emails released by the DOJ show that Epstein was introduced to Coinbase through Brock Pierce, an early Bitcoin investor and co-founder of Blockchain Capital.
Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam was mentioned in email chains discussing a possible meeting. Whether that meeting ever happened remains unclear.
Epstein eventually sold part of his Coinbase stake in 2018 for around $15 million, roughly a 10x return on that portion alone.
On a personal note, this one hit a bit close to home.
I own a 1/2 of an art NFT from 2020. Brock Pierce owns the other one. I always thought it was kind of cool that I shared an NFT with a billionaire, early crypto OG, and former presidential candidate.
Now that I know about his Epstein ties, it suddenly feels a lot less cool.
But hey, if he can get me into a Coinbase 2014-level investment round, maybe I’ll change my mind.
Epstein and Bitcoin development
This is where the story gets darker, but also more nuanced.
Epstein donated large sums to MIT, including funding for the MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative. Some of that funding was indirectly used in 2015 to pay Bitcoin Core developers after the Bitcoin Foundation ran out of money.
That does not mean Bitcoin was owned or controlled by Epstein. But it does mean his money touched parts of the ecosystem.
Emails show Epstein communicating with influential figures like Joichi Ito and attempting to connect with developers such as Gavin Andresen, Amir Taaki, and Jeremy Rubin.
In most cases, those developers either declined meetings or cut contact once they learned more about Epstein’s background. Several have publicly addressed these emails since their release.
There is no evidence that Epstein dictated Bitcoin’s code, roadmap, or ideology. But there is evidence that he was fascinated by it and wanted influence.
And that alone makes people uneasy.
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Crypto bros in full cope mode
Crypto Twitter absolutely hated this part of the story. Not the fake Satoshi email, not the obvious debunking, but the uncomfortable reality that Epstein’s money even brushed against Bitcoin’s early ecosystem. For a community that loves yelling “code is law” and “trustless system” while posting laser-eye selfies, this was a vibe killer.
Suddenly timelines were filled with Olympic-level mental gymnastics explaining why indirect funding doesn’t count, why MIT money is “different,” and why this totally doesn’t matter anyway. You could almost hear the collective coping: Bitcoin is still pure, Satoshi is still a monk, and Epstein was just some irrelevant guy throwing money around. Is it rational? Probably. Is it cope? Absolutely. And that’s crypto for you.
Final words
Is Epstein Satoshi? Hell no.
Did this rumor cause the Bitcoin crash? I doubt it.
But the fact remains that Epstein’s early interest and indirect involvement leave a small stain on Bitcoin’s history. Everyone already knew that early Bitcoin had ties to Silk Road and dark web markets. That was always part of the story.
Epstein is different. A different level of evil. A different kind of discomfort.
Hearing “Bitcoin” and “Epstein” in the same sentence doesn’t sit right with a lot of people, and that reaction is understandable.
Bitcoin survived Silk Road. It survived Mt. Gox. It survived FTX.
This will fade into the long list of strange, dark, and uncomfortable chapters in crypto history.
And no worries.
Satoshi is still out there.
And thankfully, it’s not Jeffrey Epstein.
If you enjoyed this blog, be sure to check out our latest on crypto buzzwords.
As always, don’t forget to claim your bonus below on Bybit. See you next time!
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