Edited by manopBKK at 6-2-2026 02:45 AM
Recent reporting has complicated that perception after emails showed Jeffrey Epstein donated to the MIT Media Lab, which hosted research groups connected to early cryptocurrency and Bitcoin development.
Epstein's connection to MIT Media Lab

Previously released emails and records show that Jeffrey Epstein donated funds to the MIT Media Lab when Joichi Ito was serving as director. Ito later acknowledged accepting donations from Epstein after their relationship became public.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/bitcoin-s-trust-crisis-deepens-as-jeffrey-epstein-funding-links-rattle-investor
During that period, the Media Lab hosted the Digital Currency Initiative, a research group that supported cryptocurrency and Bitcoin development through grants and research.
Convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein invited longtime Bitcoiner Adam Back and his co-founder Austin Hill to visit his island after investing in their Bitcoin technology company Blockstream in 2014, according to newly released files from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Back is a British cryptographer best known for inventing Hashcash, a proof-of-work system that later became a core building block of Bitcoin. He's also co-founder and CEO of Blockstream, where he works on Bitcoin infrastructure, cryptography, and scaling technologies.
The email exchange began with Epstein asking Hill on to call him on April 15, 2014 and providing a phone number. Two hours later, Hill responded saying he had tried to call him but was told that he had already left.
Hill alluded to tentative plans they'd made to meet in New York that Sunday, but said it was a "no-go" because of commitments on the West Coast, but added that "Fri/Saturday on the island are still possible."
In a separate email from Epstein sent to early Bitcoin developer Amir Taaki on April 19, 2014, Epstein told Taaki that he'd just had "Andy Back," likely referring to the Blockstream co-founder, "on my island this weekend."
Epstein’s private Caribbean island, Little Saint James, has since become a central symbol of his abuse network. Located in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the island was repeatedly identified by survivors and prosecutors as a site where Epstein trafficked and sexually abused underage girls, often flying them in on his private jet and housing them on the property.
|