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Jeffrey Epstein saw promise in Bitcoin — and its far-right supporters | Epstein may not have fully understood crypto, but he helped shape its culture anyway.
Behind the bastards just did a podcast on his influence on the modern world. It’s pretty good if you wanna hear about how rich psycho’s have been fucking with us the last couple of decades.
The tranche of Jeffrey Epstein emails and files released on January 30th tie the infamous pedophile, sex trafficker, and influence peddler to elite figures across the tech industry. The world of cryptocurrency is no exception. Epstein’s connections are intriguing, disturbing — and worth mapping closely.
With his interest first piqued as early as 2011, Epstein was ahead of the game on crypto. The financier understood it as a tool for clandestine payments and shady international finance, and found prominent community members more than willing to welcome him. Bitcoin wasn’t even invented until 2009, which means all of Epstein’s crypto connections formed after his 2008 guilty plea for solicitation of a minor.
Between 2011 and 2019, Epstein invested in major crypto exchanges and software development firms. He grew close with one of the most influential yet troubling figures in the field, Tether cofounder Brock Pierce. Epstein even forged ties with Bitcoin’s core development team and mused about changing the technology of Bitcoin itself.
I'm seeing this narrative come out in a lot of recent opinion pieces that Epstein was illiterate/stupid and I don't get it. He may have been evil and didn't have any of the educational qualifications one might expect for the level of influence he rapidly obtained over the finances of the super rich, but he obviously wasn't stupid or illiterate.
I think people are confusing boldness with stupidity. He obviously could have done things smarter, but apparently no one around him needed to and they never faced any consequences, so why would a guy bold enough to get wrapped up in all this to begin with be that careful?
I don’t agree with stupid either, but I do think he was relatively illiterate. I’m guessing if spelling is not important to a person they wouldn’t pick up on it. And it doesn’t have to be important to that person. It clearly wasn’t important to him.
I'm pretty picky about spelling and grammar, and I know a lot of smart people who can absolutely write perfectly who send very sloppy personal emails/texts.
Not at all-first off it’s a flex- when you don’t have to impress you text through email and proper sentences look suspicious and try hard. Also his Amazon Orders m included books by Hegel and Spinoza I doubt his ability to explain the particulars of calculus to anyone places his firmly outside of illiterate
It doesn't take a criminal genius to be like "I need to launder boatloads of money, I wonder if this pseudonymous speculative asset with a reasonably large market cap could help?"
The fact that Bitcoin also happened to dramatically appreciate in value during those years doesn't hurt either.
Sad to see bitcoin getting thrown under the bus in all of this, 99% of people have no clue why it was created and have done zero research into the topic.
Shit comment for a Shit-coin, lmao. People buying Bitcoin don't want to come to terms with the fact that they've been conned into financing bad actors.
ispeektroof | 6 hours ago
Behind the bastards just did a podcast on his influence on the modern world. It’s pretty good if you wanna hear about how rich psycho’s have been fucking with us the last couple of decades.
f0rgotten | 53 minutes ago
Came here to drop the same comment. This particular series of episodes was fascinating for some chilling reason.
[OP] theverge | 6 hours ago
The tranche of Jeffrey Epstein emails and files released on January 30th tie the infamous pedophile, sex trafficker, and influence peddler to elite figures across the tech industry. The world of cryptocurrency is no exception. Epstein’s connections are intriguing, disturbing — and worth mapping closely.
With his interest first piqued as early as 2011, Epstein was ahead of the game on crypto. The financier understood it as a tool for clandestine payments and shady international finance, and found prominent community members more than willing to welcome him. Bitcoin wasn’t even invented until 2009, which means all of Epstein’s crypto connections formed after his 2008 guilty plea for solicitation of a minor.
Between 2011 and 2019, Epstein invested in major crypto exchanges and software development firms. He grew close with one of the most influential yet troubling figures in the field, Tether cofounder Brock Pierce. Epstein even forged ties with Bitcoin’s core development team and mused about changing the technology of Bitcoin itself.
Gift link: https://www.theverge.com/tech/885252/jeffrey-epstein-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-connections?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6InFHR0tTZzdvQTUiLCJwIjoiL3RlY2gvODg1MjUyL2plZmZyZXktZXBzdGVpbi1iaXRjb2luLWNyeXB0b2N1cnJlbmN5LWNvbm5lY3Rpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzcyNjM4MTQ5LCJpYXQiOjE3NzIyMDYxNDl9.3F5tZaXDEx5eg0vZPOQyGuoYSZPttbBHj0l-AH9vN-4&utm_medium=gift-link
Potential4752 | 6 hours ago
Sounds like he understood it perfectly? Useful for shady shit and for a select few to make money.
sprashoo | 6 hours ago
I'm seeing this narrative come out in a lot of recent opinion pieces that Epstein was illiterate/stupid and I don't get it. He may have been evil and didn't have any of the educational qualifications one might expect for the level of influence he rapidly obtained over the finances of the super rich, but he obviously wasn't stupid or illiterate.
rasta_faerie | 6 hours ago
I think people are confusing boldness with stupidity. He obviously could have done things smarter, but apparently no one around him needed to and they never faced any consequences, so why would a guy bold enough to get wrapped up in all this to begin with be that careful?
horseradishstalker | 4 hours ago
I don’t agree with stupid either, but I do think he was relatively illiterate. I’m guessing if spelling is not important to a person they wouldn’t pick up on it. And it doesn’t have to be important to that person. It clearly wasn’t important to him.
sebwiers | 3 hours ago
Einstein's spelling was pretty bad too, even in German. Does that mean Einstein was "relatively illiterate"?
SeeMarkFly | an hour ago
I ran my own repair business and NOBODY cared if the spelling was bad on the bill I gave them. The machine was ALREADY working properly.
When I started programming computers, my spelling DID improve dramatically. Cause the programs wouldn't work.
sprashoo | 2 hours ago
I'm pretty picky about spelling and grammar, and I know a lot of smart people who can absolutely write perfectly who send very sloppy personal emails/texts.
Leading_Disaster236 | 16 minutes ago
Not at all-first off it’s a flex- when you don’t have to impress you text through email and proper sentences look suspicious and try hard. Also his Amazon Orders m included books by Hegel and Spinoza I doubt his ability to explain the particulars of calculus to anyone places his firmly outside of illiterate
jandrese | 2 hours ago
It doesn't take a criminal genius to be like "I need to launder boatloads of money, I wonder if this pseudonymous speculative asset with a reasonably large market cap could help?"
The fact that Bitcoin also happened to dramatically appreciate in value during those years doesn't hurt either.
SeeMarkFly | 2 hours ago
Anything can be used for good or evil. He saw an evil use for it.
Potential4752 | 2 hours ago
Some things are clearly more suitable for evil than good.
SeeMarkFly | an hour ago
Forge your swords into plowshares.
mylord420 | an hour ago
Bitcoin core philosophy is anarcho capitalist. Thats evil.
blackmobius | 4 hours ago
You dont need to understand exactly how a car works to be able to drive one 100mph down the highway
mwdeuce | 4 hours ago
Sad to see bitcoin getting thrown under the bus in all of this, 99% of people have no clue why it was created and have done zero research into the topic.
AblePerfectionist | 3 hours ago
Shit comment for a Shit-coin, lmao. People buying Bitcoin don't want to come to terms with the fact that they've been conned into financing bad actors.
mwdeuce | 2 hours ago
Crazy how PM diehards are so anti-bitcoin when the value proposition for both is essentially the same. Good luck with your coin collection, lol.
TumbleweedPrudent359 | 3 hours ago
fr op really out here posting blank titles, creating suspense like it's a thriller novel lol
mountain-mahogany | an hour ago
He understood it is THE PERFECT TOOL for sex trafficking children. And avoiding other accountability but from societal agreements. So there is that.
Accomplished-Rope-27 | 3 hours ago
Duh, how else does one efficiently launder shitloads of cash….
nameless_pattern | 2 hours ago
Are you trying to tell me the Bitcoin core and tether might be a little corrupt?
Surely not, who could have possibly seen this coming?
JackieDaytona77 | an hour ago
Who knows what he was doing when Silk Road was around.
jrastafari | an hour ago
Because Bitcoin lets people doing illegal things get away with doing illegal things
Count_Backwards | 5 hours ago
Not at all surprising. Disruptive economy is a fancy way to say rape culture.