Documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday reveal that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein invested $3 million in cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase in December 2014. The emails indicate that Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam was personally aware of the source of the funds, with correspondence showing he sought a meeting with Epstein to discuss the arrangement. The investment was part of Coinbase's Series C funding round, which valued the company at $400 million at the time.
The deal was facilitated through connections with Brock Pierce, a co-founder of Tether, and his investment firm, Blockchain Capital. While a formal fund investment through Blockchain Capital never materialized, Epstein invested directly via a company he controlled, IGO Company LLC. Blockchain Capital co-founder Brad Stephens facilitated the wire transfer by passing Coinbase's banking details to Epstein's executive assistant, Darren Indyke.
The revelations have reignited speculation about the 2021 delisting of Ripple's XRP token from Coinbase. Social media chatter suggests Epstein's early influence in the crypto space, including a 2014 email from Blockstream's then-CEO Austin Hill, may have contributed to opposition against Ripple and Stellar. In the email, Hill told Epstein that supporting Ripple or Stellar was "bad for the ecosystem" and would make someone an adversary. However, attorney Bill Morgan noted this correspondence predated the SEC's investigation into Ripple by several years.
Epstein's Coinbase stake grew significantly in value. By 2018, he sold half of his shares back to Blockchain Capital for nearly $15 million—a tenfold return on the original investment for that portion—while retaining the other half. Epstein was found dead in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
The documents also confirm a separate 2014 investment by Epstein into Blockstream, a blockchain technology company co-founded by Bitcoin pioneer Adam Back.
