Blockstream’s Adam Back Addresses Epstein Links as DOJ Releases New Files
Blockstream CEO Adam Back responded to renewed consideration across the firm after newly unsealed Jeffrey Epstein paperwork emerged as half of a big US Department of Justice disclosure.
In a public clarification, Back stated Blockstream has no ongoing or historic monetary relationship with the convicted intercourse offender.
Blockstream Says No Epstein Ties
Back asserted that any contact occurred briefly through the firm’s seed fundraising in 2014 and ended shortly afterward. He defined that Blockstream was launched to Joi Ito, then director of the MIT Media Lab, throughout its early investor roadshow. Through Ito, the corporate met Epstein, who was offered on the time as a restricted accomplice in Ito’s funding fund.
That fund later acquired a small minority stake in Blockstream however divested inside months, citing potential conflicts of curiosity and different issues. Back stated that Blockstream by no means obtained capital immediately from Epstein and has had no direct or oblique ties to him or his property since.
The assertion comes as the DOJ continues publishing thousands and thousands of pages of Epstein-related supplies below the Epstein Files Transparency Act. A brand new batch was launched on January 30. The paperwork identify a number of outstanding figures from expertise, finance, and politics, although the DOJ has famous that inclusion within the data doesn’t, by itself, point out wrongdoing.
Among the newly unsealed materials are 2014 emails during which Blockstream co-founder Austin Hill discussed the corporate’s oversubscribed seed spherical with Ito and Epstein, as nicely as journey reserving correspondence referencing St. Thomas, an island close to Epstein’s personal compound. So far, no allegations have been made towards Blockstream or its executives, however these references have drawn scrutiny.
Interest in Bitcoin and Elite Circles
The disclosures additionally revealed Epstein’s curiosity in cryptocurrency, together with personal discussions about Bitcoin’s position and criticism of blockchain tasks such as Ripple and Stellar, alongside later makes an attempt to pitch new digital foreign money ideas. Other outstanding business figures, together with Trump’s choose for Federal Reserve chair, Kevin Warsh, are additionally talked about within the recordsdata.
Meanwhile, new Epstein-related data printed by the DOJ on January 31 embody a 2010 electronic mail from American leisure publicist Peggy Siegal surfaced, mentioning Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor. The electronic mail stated Saylor donated $25,000 to a charity occasion, which helped him obtain invites to unique social occasions. Siegal described him as troublesome to speak to, socially awkward, a “full creep”, and “form of like a zombie on a drug.”
Swissblock’s Head Macro Economist Henrik Zeberg said that anybody who visited Epstein’s personal island after his 2008 conviction bears ethical accountability. Zeberg tweeted,
“I don’t care if you’re a Politician or which Political Party you belong to. I don’t care whether or not you’re a CEO of a FAANG firm. I don’t care if you’re a Billionaire. I don’t care if you’re Royal – or a former US President. In reality, if you’re any of the above, you might have a good higher accountability to behave morally right.”
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