Did Epstein influence Bitcoin core development? Short answer: No. This is not how Bitcoin works. Here’s what happened: Epstein donated to MIT Media Lab…who in turn supported MIT Digital Currency Initiative…which in turn funded Bitcoin developers. These devs used to be funded by The Bitcoin Foundation (which I used... to run as volunteer Executive Director) there are many devs and no dev or team had power or control over Bitcoin. Under MIT’s patronage the devs had the same deal they had with us at The Bitcoin Foundation: that they could work on the code and not have direction from the org. More importantly — how Bitcoin works is that *even if* a dev was compromised then the nodes and miners would still have to run that code to make it included in Bitcoin. So for example if I had somehow asked the devs paid by Bitcoin Foundation to “add 1000 coins for Bruce” 1) they wouldn’t have done this / it would have been counter to our agreement 2) no miners would run that code & no nodes would recognize it. It would be a laughing stock and completely rejected. Does this mean code dev is not an attack vector? No. It’s still a risk. Particularly with nation state style actors and very careful efforts to co-opt which are much more sophisticated than “give Bruce coins” or something. This is one reason I’m cautious of Bitcoin core funding - especially from actors who’ve had bad judgment in the past. I think we should be cautious of who does the dev and view it as an attack vector. Bitcoin code is transparent and has lots of eyes on it. So in this case especially there isn’t even a solid accusation, let alone evidence that MIT directed nefarious code changes. If that was an allegation the first question should be: well what code specifically did MIT direct and what proof is there and how was it harmful? I think claims around this would collapse. There’s obviously plenty to criticize about Epstein and MIT working with him — and when it comes to digital assets MIT’s work with Gensler and especially its work on CBDCs is much more suspect than the chance that malicious code was pushed through on Bitcoin. Be cautious but this is a nothing burgershow more

Yes, he funded the hijacking of Bitcoin and then invested $500K in Blockstream through Joi Ito’s venture fund. Tether printed money out of thin air in 2017 to artificially pump the price to backup the hijacked store of value narrative. Bitcoin is now slow, expensive, digital surveillance gold.

no, Bruce. it's been exposed as BTCPedoliecoin and there's nothing anyone can do about it. no optics or PR can fix it and no self-respecting female will touch it.

How do you figure

there's not much to figure. there's enough information in the documents to understand that Bitcoin was built on lies. you already know Roger was the good guy. who wants to hold something with such taint? who buys lies?

I don’t know what you are seeing to make you think this

that's ok, Bruce. many of us see it.

If it is clear you should be able to articulate

as the saying goes friend, dyor.

Well I have lived it and funded dev and know how it works — so you’d need to counter that with something with substance

MAYBE you're right, either way this is not going to help inspire confidence or new money.

Well Epstein was lying

@Daveinthenorth2 Epstein was a notorious bullshit artist known lies, exaggerations, name dropping instances literally everywhere @grok list some

Here are some reported examples of Jeffrey Epstein's lies, exaggerations, and name-dropping, based on court documents and investigations: 1. Claimed phone calls with Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett during massages; victims denied meetings, reps confirmed no contact (Guardian, 2024). 2. Name-dropped Cameron Diaz; denied by victim and rep (same source). 3. Exaggerated wealth origins: Lied about managing billions for non-existent clients, built fortune via scams and theft (NYT, 2025). 4. Falsely claimed advanced degrees and financial expertise despite dropping out of college (NYT). Sources verified via search.

@brucefenton @Daveinthenorth2 Give more

Here are additional reported examples of Jeffrey Epstein's lies, exaggerations, and name-dropping, based on court docs, interviews, and investigations: 5. Claimed to be a CIA agent; later denied it (Wikipedia, citing interviews). 6. Bragged about being a Mossad agent to an ex-girlfriend (Wikipedia, from books like Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales). 7. Exaggerated as a "high-level bounty hunter" recovering embezzled funds for governments (Wikipedia, self-proclaimed). 8. Falsely claimed to be Donald Trump's "closest friend" (Wikipedia, interviews). Sources verified via Wikipedia and NYT.

Why is everyone calling it GoyGold now???

Nice post. Lots of educating to do. The Truth About Epstein & Bitcoin

Bitcoin Core and its funding apparatus must fail in order for Bitcoin to achieve its purpose as sound money, Bruce. No two ways about it!

It was obviously an attempt whether failed or successful yet to be seen. Epstein wanted deep Connections in Bitcoin core development and seems to have set them up. More importantly it shows that opsec at core is dangerously incompetent

It was never a "nothing burger" to those of us who believe in the original vision of Bitcoin, as it is in the whitepaper (which BTC does not follow). Digital Cash is freedom. Is that what we got with all of this central control via child sex slave money?

Two separate things

“that’s not how it works” That’s exactly how Influence works, it’s called reciprocity. Please read some books by Robert Cialdini before talking about how influence works.

Sure but that’s not what happened here and influence of these devs alone isn’t enough to change the code

Wtf is segwit and limiting blocks to 1mb?

@brucefenton It's technologically the best answer that was available at the time. The inferiority of the alternatives has been effectively proven in the open markets (by B'cash/BCH, et alia).

@brucefenton Bruce, were segwit and small blocks a bad idea?

@darkside2030 Did Epstein influence Bitcoin's development? No. Is there a corrupt apparatus of influence inside Bitcoin Core? Absolutely yes.

@Vet_X0 how what you assess the risk of core dev being an attack vector for the $XRPL?

I am sure he funded Bitcoin with the best intentions lol

Sumary: Epstein didn't directly fund or influence Bitcoin development. He funded and influenced the organizations that fund Bitcoin development. Copy. 👁👌

might be time to pivot from bitcoin and move to the thing you help create and never speak of Ravencoin... 'champion of decentralization'

Look man it doesn’t even matter. Not knowing who owns the SATOSHI wallets makes bitcoin a huge red flag the coin can be rugged at any moment prove me wrong 😑

A sale of those coins would not even be the daily volume

It would cause mass panic selling

Of course its a nothing burger... tell me how much you have invested in BTC again?

Buddy, Epstein and my brother and their organized crime network were targeting Bitcoin developers. They wanted to find Satoshi, and steal the private keys. And they started on it *early*. They were ruthless.

@Kevin_McKernan Sure bro 🇮🇱

Just the latest FUD and Donny Distraction. If someone was gullible enough to believe this is the case, they probably never did their own research on bitcoin to begin with. Thank you for your deep dive on the topic Bruce.

You need to do better than that

No I dont. The emails are there. Cope harder.

So you just don’t have critical thinking or don’t know how to read emails then or you don’t know how Bitcoin works - there’s no “cope” idgaf what Epstein did but facts are facts

You're having a mental breakdown sir.

Not at all. You just don’t have any facts. Give it a shot. You’ll see that you are off base

You are in manic fear replying to every comment because you see your grift that has been making you rich of the backs of child sex slaves is falling apart at the seams.

People don’t want to do the research. $BUCKAZOIDS community did the research. Bitcoins was conceived beginning in 1979 with Ralph Merkle. Timeline👇🏻

Elite funding and institutional capture can shape governance defaults, narrow acceptable options, and decide which factions survive. It just so happens this is also the period when bitcoin narrative was changed from a medium of exchange to a store of value

Why Bitcoin Core v30 have the same size in the OP_RETURN than BSV with a lots of NACKs in the PRs?

Keep simping for pedos and their pedo coin. Why does BTC suck to use then?

SegWit got slipped into the code base even though it was known to be detrimental before implementation👇

Bruce, The Evidence is Clear as Crystal: Blood Trafficking coin tied to Pedo Epstein was created and run for Trafficking and Evil intentions by criminal people. There is nothing you can do to prove otherwise.

Bruce, I understand what you are saying. However, the recent Core 30 attack via OP_Return was most likely the result of a long-term attack strategy that had matured. You should consider this likely, given that the full attack, if not addressed, will expose Bitcoin to significant risk by weaponizing its own immunity against it, as I explained in my blog post, which I link to here.

Maximum pedo coin cope

NOT YOU TOO 🤣😭🤡

Traitor. The Bitcoin Foundation was supoosed to protect me from Epstein, Ito et al

Says who and how

Thanks for weeding through the morass and giving it to us in plain language.

Propaganda influenced btc's fall. No one wants to admit they were had so they say the things like you're saying. "bitcoin can't be controlled. it's decentralized. blah blah blah" Sorry, Charlie. The network was hijacked using propaganda that you believed in. It wasn't math, it wasn't a rival blockchain, it wasn't adversarial mining... it was narrative that crippled btc.

Is anyone surprised that Bruce Fenton was a #Blockstream bootlicker and #USDT apologist back when blockstream hijacked and ruined btc (between 2015-2017)? 😅