TL;DR
- Again denied monetary ties between Blockstream and Jeffrey Epstein or his property after a Jan. 30 DOJ launch not too long ago resurfaced names.
- July 2014 emails cited Blockstream’s 10x oversubscribed $18M seed spherical, lifting an allocation from $50K to $500K, plus St. Thomas journey references.
- Again stated Epstein was a restricted associate in Joi Ito’s fund that later divested; information additionally present Epstein discussing Bitcoin with Peter Thiel and pitching forex concepts.
Blockstream CEO and co-founder Adam Again moved to deal with freshly unsealed Jeffrey Epstein information that surfaced his identify and that of co-founder Austin Hill. Again stated Blockstream has no direct nor oblique monetary reference to Epstein, or his property, positioning the problem as a governance clarification. The context is a Jan. 30 doc launch inside a wider U.S. Division of Justice disclosure effort, the place showing in information doesn’t by itself indicate wrongdoing. Again stated Epstein was a restricted associate in a Joi Ito fund that after held a minority Blockstream stake, later divested.
In 2014, throughout Blockstream’s seed-round investor roadshow, the corporate was launched to then MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito. Subsequently Blockstream met with Jeffrey Epstein, who was described on the time as a restricted associate in Ito’s fund. That fund later invested a minority…
— Adam Again (@adam3us) February 1, 2026
Epstein information and fallout
The filings embrace July 2014 electronic mail correspondence about Blockstream’s seed spherical, with Hill telling Joi Ito and Epstein the elevate was 10x oversubscribed on an $18M spherical and an allocation was elevated from $50K to $500K. The documentation exhibits capital-raise logistics and relationship administration that now carry reputational danger in hindsight. Again was included within the electronic mail loop. Separate unsealed supplies referenced journey reserving confirmations for Again and Hill to St. Thomas, close to Epstein’s non-public island, and Hill wrote that they’d prepare their very own flights earlier than persevering with to SFO, below harder disclosure optics.
In a Sunday publish on X, Again stated Blockstream met Ito throughout its 2014 investor roadshow and later met Epstein as a result of he was offered as a restricted associate in Ito’s fund. Again’s framing is that any monetary linkage ended when the fund divested its Blockstream shares over conflict-of-interest considerations. He didn’t handle the St. Thomas journey electronic mail, whereas Hill reposted Again’s assertion. Even so, criticism unfold throughout social media, with some arguing the response got here solely after the paperwork surfaced and others urgent for extra element about prior interactions, amid credibility restore efforts.
The unsealed batch additionally outlines Epstein’s broader crypto involvement and curiosity. Past Blockstream, the information depict Epstein partaking high-profile contacts on Bitcoin, rival initiatives, and even proposed currencies. Hill informed Ito and Epstein that Stellar and Ripple have been dangerous for Blockstream’s ecosystem and warned towards backing two horses in a single race. One other thread exhibits Epstein emailing Peter Thiel about what Bitcoin is. In 2016 he pitched “the Sharia” fiat and a Sharia-compliant digital forex, because the Epstein Recordsdata Transparency Act drove DOJ publication of over 6M information. Names included Kevin Warsh and Michael Saylor.
