Newly released documents from the U.S. Department of Justice have revealed that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein quietly invested millions in the crypto industry, including early stakes in Coinbase and a Bitcoin development company.
According to the records, Epstein invested $3 million in Coinbase back in 2014. The investment was made through a company based in the U.S. Virgin Islands, years after his criminal conviction. At the time, Coinbase was valued at around $400 million, meaning Epstein owned less than 1% of the company.
The deal was arranged by Brock Pierce, a well-known figure in crypto and a former child actor, along with Brad Stephens, a co-founder of Blockchain Capital. Emails included in the files show that Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam knew about Epstein’s involvement, though it’s unclear if the two ever met in person.
Epstein remained interested in Coinbase for years. In 2018, Blockchain Capital tried to buy part of his stake, and Epstein even considered putting more money into the company during a later funding round. Coinbase eventually went public in 2021 and is now valued at close to $50 billion.
Epstein’s crypto activity didn’t stop there.
The documents also show that he invested in Blockstream, a company that develops Bitcoin infrastructure, in 2014. However, he sold that stake just a few months later due to what was described as conflicts of interest. Blockstream’s CEO, Adam Back, later said the company has no financial ties to Epstein’s estate today.
These crypto investments were just one part of Epstein’s wider financial network. His portfolio stretched across finance, media, and technology, giving him access to powerful people and private investment opportunities that stayed hidden for years.
The revelations come from a new batch of so-called Epstein files, made public by the DOJ. Together with thousands of pages of financial records, they shed more light on how deeply Epstein was connected to the world of digital assets—and how quietly those connections were kept.
The documents add another troubling layer to the story of how Epstein continued to move money and influence behind the scenes, even after his conviction.
