Tech sector in state of shock and grief, after Epstein revealed as key player in development of Cryptocurrencies
Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2026 6:53 pm
https://futurism.com/future-society/cry ... in-bitcoin
Like a hurricane that tears down even the sturdiest storm shelters, the Epstein files have cut a path through a vast swath of America’s intellectual, political, and financial elite.
The latest tranche of emails related to the notorious sex predator have been particularly devastating. Fans of the left-libertarian academic Noam Chomsky are in shambles after learning the two were in close contact until around 2017, while tech luminaries from Bill Gates to the Google cofounders were similarly caught schmoozing with the disgraced financier.
Cypto bros are no exception. After the Department of Justice released three million files over the weekend, blockchain enthusiasts were quick to discover a certain Jeffery Epstein was an active and prominent figure in crypto during its formative years.
One file highlighted by crypto investor Patrick Riley shows an email chain between Epstein and Joichi Ito, the former head of MIT’s Media Lab whose Digital Currency Initiative played an integral role in helping crypto grow into the giant it is today. As the email exchange makes clear, Epstein’s backing was a key pillar in establishing the DGI.
“FYI,” Ito told Epstein, “used gift funds to underwrite this which allowed us to move quickly and win this round. Thanks.”
“At the time this letter was written, there were around 12,000 commits to Bitcoin’s code,” Riley remarked in a post on social media. “Today there are 47,583 commits to Bitcoin’s code. That means that 74.79 percent of the Bitcoin core development and code was committed after Jeffery Epstein took over the defacto senior management role as benefactor.”