A wave of viral social media posts claims that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein invented Bitcoin. The speculation was sparked by doctored emails circulating online, showing Epstein claiming authorship of Bitcoin under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
A viral email claims that Jeffrey Epstein invented Bitcoin, claims the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. The email is said to be medical. (AP file)However, France24’s Truth or Fake segment says these claims are unfounded and that the email was not revealed in the latest installment of the Epstein file.
The name Satoshi Nakamoto is used by the person who created Bitcoin, whose identity is a mystery.
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“Little Digital Gold Mine”The narrative stems from an email Epstein allegedly sent to his right-hand woman Ghislaine Maxwell on October 31, 2008.
The email, circulated on platforms such as X and Reddit, claimed that Epstein was behind the pseudonym Satoshi and described Bitcoin as “a little digital gold mine ready for the world.”
The email read, “Ghislaine, pseudonym ‘Satoshi’ is working perfectly. Our little digital gold mine is ready for the world. Funding secured.”
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Why fake email?Upon closer inspection, the document was proven to be a fake by France24, identifying formatting errors such as two “to:” lines.
France24 also said it found 24 results for the word “Satoshi” in the US Department of Justice’s official archive of Epstein files, none of which matched the email documents circulated online.
A search of the DOJ archives for the Epstein Files also yields no results for the phrase “a little digital gold mine.”
Furthermore, the email ID of the email (jepstein@financial.net) is different from the one that regularly points to the Epstein files (jeevacation@gmail.com).
France24 Fact-Check specifically labeled these doctored messages as false and stated that Epstein was not actually the creator of Bitcoin and certainly not Satoshi Nakamoto.
