Explosive Leak: Epstein Secretly Funded MIT’s Bitcoin Research—Here’s What We Know

Behind MIT's crypto breakthroughs lurked a dark money trail—straight from Epstein's coffers.

The Silicon Ivy Connection

Newly uncovered emails reveal MIT Media Lab accepted Epstein-linked funding for its digital currency initiatives. The disgraced financier’s fingerprints are all over early blockchain research—despite the university’s 2008 ban on his donations.

Follow the Crypto

Documents show Epstein funneled cash through backchannels to support Bitcoin-related work. The exact amount? Still buried in redacted spreadsheets—because nothing says ‘academic integrity’ like secret pedophile money.

Why This Matters Now

With Bitcoin flirting with new ATHs, these leaks expose how crypto’s ‘respectable’ academic origins were bankrolled by the same old Wall Street ghouls. Some things never change—the tech gets decentralized, but the corruption stays on-chain.

Leon Black’s role and controversial donations

Leon Black, a former private equity CEO, was suspected of making an anonymous $5 million donation to the MIT Media Lab and was at the center of a controversy that eventually led to Joi Ito’s resignation.

While Black had confirmed donating to charities linked to Jeffrey Epstein, it was not clear whether he had directly contributed to MIT or if Epstein had coordinated any gifts.

One 2019 email from Ito to Epstein reads, “We were able to keep the Leon Black money, but the $25K from your foundation is getting bounced by MIT back to ASU.” Epstein replied, “No problem- Trying to get more black for you.”

Black later stepped back from his position at Apollo Capital following reports that he had paid Epstein millions for financial advice. MIT, concerned about reputational risks from anonymous donations, clarified in 2017 that gifts should be small enough that the recipients could maintain independent judgment.

How transparent was MIT?

MIT had previously faced criticism for accepting donations from Epstein despite his criminal record. The newly surfaced emails raise questions about whether the Media Lab deliberately kept his involvement quiet, especially as it coincided with critical Bitcoin development work.

Internal MIT messages from 2017 show administrators debating limits on anonymous donations, recognizing that large secret gifts posed a “reputational risk.”

MIT carefully considered these risks. Greg Morgan, Senior Vice President, explained that the main concern was whether a gift WOULD be so large that the recipient could no longer act independently. He added that anonymous gifts could help, but no part of the Lab should be “unreasonably beholden” to a donor.

The emails do not suggest that Epstein influenced Bitcoin’s technical decisions. However, they show that his money helped MIT support key developers at a crucial moment, when Bitcoin’s main funding source had collapsed. For many in the crypto community, the bigger concern is how little of this funding story was publicly known at the time. 

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