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Blockstream founder denies relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after latest document drop – DL News

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Blockstream founder denies relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after latest document drop – DL News

  • Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was an investor in Bitcoin software company Blockstream, new records show.
  • CEO Adam Back said Blockstream severed ties with Epstein many years ago.

Adam Back, CEO of Bitcoin-focused software company Blockstream, attempted to distance himself from disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein on Sunday after US officials released a fresh batch of documents from the “Epstein Files,” some of which feature Back and another Blockstream founder.

The latest batch of documents adds to the growing body of evidence showing the late sex offender was a prominent funder of crypto ventures in the industry’s early days.

Earlier reports have detailed Epstein’s close relationship with former child actor-turned-crypto entrepreneur Brock Pierce and his donations to a Bitcoin initiative at the MIT Media Lab.

But the most recent documents, released last week, also show Epstein investing in Coinbase and Blockstream in 2014 — years after he pleaded guilty to two prostitution charges in Florida.

Blockstream’s founders met former MIT Media Lab director Joichi Ito in 2014, during the company’s “seed-round investor roadshow,” Back said on Sunday in a post on X.

“Subsequently Blockstream met with Jeffrey Epstein, who was described at the time as a limited partner in Ito’s fund,” Back wrote.

Though the fund took a minority stake in Blockstream, it divested its shares “a couple months later” due to a “potential conflict of interest, and other concerns,” Back added. “Blockstream has no direct nor indirect financial connection with Jeffrey Epstein, or his estate.”

St. Thomas

But he did not address other questions raised by the documents. For example, some emails released by the Department of Justice suggest the meeting Back referenced may have taken place at or near Little Saint James, Epstein’s infamous, privately-owned island in the US Virgin Islands.

None of the documents reviewed by DL News suggest any wrongdoing on the part of Back or Blockstream co-founder Austin Hill, who also appears several times in the Epstein Files.

According to one email thread, Back and Hill were scheduled to visit Epstein at the US Virgin Island of St. Thomas from April 17 to April 20, 2014.

On April 19, 2014 Epstein emailed Bitcoin developer Amir Taaki, whom he’d met in 2011.

“Are you still playing in the bitcoin space?” Epstein wrote. “Where are you, I have Andy Back on my island this weekend.”

It isn’t clear from the emails whether Epstein was referring to back in that email or whether Back actually visited the island. Back did not immediately return DL News’ request for comment on Tuesday.

Investment trouble

In July 2014, Hill emailed Ito and Epstein to say he would increase their allocation in Blockstream at other investors’ expense.

“We are 10x oversubscribed on an $18m seed round and Reid at the last minute told us to bump your allocation from $50k to $500k,” Hill wrote.

“I respect you both and have learned so much from you in our discussions we [will] have everyone else [take] a haircut to make room.”

Just weeks later, however, Hill emailed saying the “other cofounders” wanted to “reduce or take your allocation away,” citing an apparent investment in the Stellar blockchain.

“It does our company damage to have investors who are backing two horses in the same race,” Hill wrote.

But it doesn’t appear that Epstein had a total falling out with the Blockstream founders.

“Afaik you and Joi invested in his company,” Italian hacker Vincenzo Iozzo wrote to Epstein in a November 2014 email with the subject line “Adam Back.” “What do you think of him?”

“Like him,” Epstein replied.

And in May 2015, Ito proposed a meeting with Back and a few others to discuss “money and the future of finance.”

“Great,” Epstein replied. It is unclear whether that meeting ever happened.

Controversial Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr said Back should resign his position in the wake of the document dump.

“I was an initial contributor to Blockstream and Adam promised me I’d be listed as a co-founder and be treated the same as other co-founders. Adam broke that promise, betrayed my trust, and cut me out,” Dashjr wrote on X.

“These recent revelations about Adam and Epstein Island helps shed light on some of Adam’s hostility toward me and his recent pro-spam gaslighting, but I never knew how bad and how deep the corruption went.”

Aleks Gilbert is DL News’ New York-based DeFi correspondent. You can reach him at aleks@dlnews.com.

Base AI Agent Ecosystem Surges as AI Social Platform Moltbook Goes Viral

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Base AI Agent Ecosystem Surges as AI Social Platform Moltbook Goes Viral

Activity on Base-based AI-powered launchpad Clanker has surged as traders speculate on the rise of autonomous AI agents.

The number of tokens launched on AI agent launchpad Clanker, which runs on Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2 Base, skyrocketed to new daily highs following the recent rise of AI-only social media platform, Moltbook.

Yesterday, Feb. 2, the number of tokens created on Clanker reached 21,870, breaking its previous all-time highs from over the weekend, per data from Dune Analytics.

Daily trading volumes on the AI-powered Base launchpad also surged, reaching an all-time high of over $364 million on Jan. 31.

Clanker daily trading volume. Source: Dune

The surge in AI agent token activity on Base coincided with the launch and viral growth of the Moltbook platform, which went live in late January. Nearly immediately, as activity on the platform picked up, reports and debates around the autonomous AI agents’ conversations took over X, with prominent figures in crypto and AI weighing in.

Moltbook, which has a similar interface to Reddit, was launched by tech entrepreneur Matt Schlicht and designed to be used exclusively by AI agents, who generate posts, comments, and upvotes while humans are only able to access the site in read-only mode.

Moltbook and OpenClaw Memecoins

Most of the agents that are active on Moltbook were created using OpenClaw — previously known as Moltbot and Clawdbot — an open-source, self-hosted AI agent framework developed by software engineer Peter Steinberger.

As of today, Feb. 3, the top-three tokens on Clanker by trading volume all reference OpenClaw or Moltbook, at least indirectly.

the-defiant

Since Jan. 30, trading volume on Clanker has mostly been led by the Moltbook-inspired memecoin Moltbook (MOLT). At its peak, MOLT was trading with a $93 million market cap, while trading volume for the memecoin reached over $100 million within the first 24 hours of launching on Jan. 30-31, per Dune data. Currently, its market cap stands at $25.7 million and the token is down 23% on the day.

The Defiant was unable to verify whether MOLT was officially launched by or affiliated with the social platform Moltbook, or was deployed independently, as an unaffiliated memecoin.

As of today, volumes were led by CLAWD, tied to AI agent clawd.atg.eth, created by Ethereum Foundation member Austin Griffith just last weekend. Per its official X profile, Griffith’s agent has a crypto wallet and is “building onchain apps and improving the tools to build them.” Griffith clarified in a recent X post that neither he nor clawd.atg.eth deployed the CLAWD token, but the person behind the token, which was launched a day after the AI agent, on Jan. 26, directed 100% of trading fees to Griffith’s agent.

The third most-traded token on Clanker as of today is CLAWNCH, a token tied to a new eponymous launchpad clawnch that lets bots on Moltbook and other platforms launch tokens and collect fees. As of press time, the platform debuted over 8,600 tokens, with AI agents earning more than $1.3 million in fees.

the-defiant
Clawnch’s volume. Source: clawnch

Commenting on the risk of Moltbook and the proliferation of related memecoins, Cais Manai, co-founder of TEN Protocol, an encrypted Layer 2 rollup on Ethereum, told The Defiant that crypto may have been built for the wrong user all along.

“Smart contracts are deterministic, composable, and machine-readable by default,” Manai said, describing blockchains as a native execution layer for autonomous software, rather than a consumer product. Manai added:

“For an AI agent, interacting with a smart contract is far easier than interacting with legacy financial infrastructure. In that sense, smart contracts are less a consumer UX and more a native execution layer for autonomous software.”

That setup lets AI agents hold wallets, trade on-chain and move value without banks or human approval. And yet, that potential convenience also comes with costs, as permissionless access shifts the threat surface toward keys, permissions, and identity rather than accounts and forms.

Is Moltbook Activity Really Only AI Agents?

The intially positive sentiment around Moltbook shifted after a researcher under the alias Nagli disclosed a bug tied to a hardcoded key that leaked about 1.5 million API keys, along with emails and private messages. The flaw made it clear that humans could impersonate bots and inject content even though Schlicht reportedly patched the hole.

As of press time, the flaw has reportedly been fixed, though it remains unclear how much of the content on Moltbook was generated by humans, not agents, via the bug.

Cybersecurity firm Codekeeper also revealed in a Feb. 1 blog post that a single OpenClaw bot spun up more than 500,000 accounts on Moltbook because registration limitation safeguards were not in place on the platform.

Developers are now turning to trusted execution environments as a partial fix for associated risks around AI agents managing wallets, and governance, on-chain.

For now, the broader AI-driven shift in crypto still remains messy and experimental, as issues around security and practical implementation continue to be solved in real-time.

Nvidia, Dassault Systèmes to Build Industrial AI Platform

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Nvidia, Dassault Systèmes to Build Industrial AI Platform

Nvidia and software company Dassault Systèmes are partnering to build an industrial AI platform, combining virtual twin technology with accelerated AI infrastructure.

The partnership was announced today at 3DExperience World, Dassault Systèmes’ annual design and engineering event. 

Under the collaboration, Dassault Systèmes’ 3DExperience platform and virtual twin technologies will be integrated with Nvidia’s AI infrastructure, open models and accelerated software libraries to create what the companies described as science-validated “industry world models.”

The models are designed to support large-scale simulation, design and use of complex systems across manufacturing, engineering and life sciences.

“A virtual twin is a scientific, multidisciplinary and multiscale representation that is fully testable under real conditions before anything exists,” Dassault Systèmes’ executive vice president of research and innovation Florence Hu said during a pre-briefing. 

Related:Siemens Unveils Tech Pipeline to Accelerate Industrial AI

Hu said this capability allows companies to holistically validate products before physical deployment and enable industrial transformation from a project’s inception.

“For an aerospace manufacturer designing a new engine, the virtual twin is not just a 3D model. It simulates thermal dynamics, stress, loads and performance under real flight conditions,” she added. “Before a single physical prototype exists, you can know whether it will work and the virtual world allows you to predict maintenance and test any modification.”

Another central feature of the platform is the introduction of “virtual companions,” agentic AI systems embedded in the 3DExperience platform. Hu said these companions act as AI experts that “understand intent, reason with industry world models and orchestrate actions.”

Three of these models have already been developed: Aura for business, Leo for engineering tasks and Marie for scientific use cases.

Hu described the shift as a move from SaaS to “agents as a service,” enabled by Nvidia’s AI models and orchestration tools, and is pitched as a transformative tool.

“Without AI factories at scale, there are no virtual twin factories, no industry world models and no virtual companions,” she said. “This partnership is not just a technology integration, it’s a shared vision for how AI will transform industry through science and validated, trustworthy intelligence.”

The expanded collaboration also reflects Nvidia’s push into physical AI.

The company is adopting Dassault Systèmes’ model-based systems engineering approach to design its own AI factories, starting with the Nvidia Rubin platform and integrating into Nvidia’s Omniverse Blueprint for large-scale AI factory deployment. 

Related:Hyundai, Nvidia Build $3B AI Factory With Blackwell GPUs

“Together with Dassault Systèmes, we’re transforming how millions of researchers, designers and engineers build the world’s largest industries,” Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said in a press release.

Bitcoin-Treasury Smarter Web Company Debuts On LSE

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Bitcoin-Treasury Smarter Web Company Debuts On LSE

The Smarter Web Company began trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange today, marking a major milestone for the UK-based firm as it continues to position itself as Britain’s largest publicly listed bitcoin holder.

The company’s shares debuted under the ticker SWC at 43p. The uplisting follows the company’s initial public offering on the Aquis Exchange in April 2025, where it went on to become the UK’s best-performing equity that year.

Founded in 2009 by chief executive Andrew Webley, The Smarter Web Company began as a web design agency focused on building bespoke, mobile-friendly websites for small and medium-sized businesses. 

In 2025, the firm pivoted toward a bitcoin treasury strategy, deploying capital into bitcoin as what it describes as “digital capital” on its balance sheet.

Today, The Smarter Web Company holds 2,674 bitcoin, making it the largest UK public company by bitcoin holdings and the 29th largest globally among public firms. 

According to The Smarter Web Company, roughly £221 million of investor capital has been used to acquire bitcoin at an average price of just over $111,000 per coin.

Bitcoin was trading near $77,000 on Tuesday, down significantly from its peak above $120,000 last year.

Speaking at the London Stock Exchange opening ceremony, Webley said the Main Market listing represents the next stage in building a long-term British public company aligned with Bitcoin. “Moving to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange marks the next significant milestone in that journey,” Webley said. “I am committed to building a British success story that contributes to the UK economy and demonstrates how bitcoin can be used as digital capital.”

Webley also reiterated his ambition for the company to enter the FTSE 250, potentially as early as the third quarterly rebalance of 2026, with longer-term aspirations to eventually reach the FTSE 100.

The United Kingdom’s version of Strategy 

The Smarter Web Company’s strategy has drawn comparisons to U.S.-based firm Strategy, which pioneered the corporate bitcoin treasury model. 

While a growing number of companies have since adopted similar approaches, Webley has argued that volatility is an inherent feature of the strategy rather than a flaw. 

Despite its recent decline from a peak market capitalization of over £1 billion, Webley recently said the company plans to continue accumulating bitcoin regardless of price. The firm spent about £220 million accumulating their bitcoin, while its shares have plunged about 95%. 

Webley argues the strategy is long-term, noting the company has increased its bitcoin holdings per share despite the downturn and plans to seek more institutional funding with a move to the London Stock Exchange’s main market.

Alleged Bitcoin Ransom Note Sent to TMZ in Case Involving ‘Today’ Show Host’s Missing Mother

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Alleged Bitcoin Ransom Note Sent to TMZ in Case Involving ‘Today’ Show Host’s Missing Mother

In brief

  • An alleged ransom note demanding millions in Bitcoin has surfaced in the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
  • The Pima County Sheriff’s Office said it is reviewing all tips and coordinating with the FBI, but declined further comment.
  • Authorities believe Guthrie was abducted and are treating the case as a criminal investigation.

An alleged ransom note demanding Bitcoin has surfaced in the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie, as authorities continue to treat the case as a suspected abduction.

The note, first reported by TMZ, is allegedly demanding “a large” Bitcoin payment in exchange for Guthrie’s release. The ransom note emailed to TMZ reportedly includes a deadline and an implied threat against Guthrie if the demand is not met.

“We have called the sheriff’s department. We’ve made multiple calls and spoken with the detective unit,” TMZ founder and host Harvey Levin said during a segment of TMZ Live. “We have passed on this email. We don’t know whether this is legit or not.”

Guthrie was last seen on the evening of January 31 at her home in the Catalina Foothills area of Arizona.

Authorities initially classified her as a missing vulnerable adult because of her age, before announcing on February 2 that the case was being treated as a “possible kidnapping” after investigators found what they described as “very concerning” evidence inside the home.

TMZ’s Levin said that media outlets receiving these types of ransoms are not uncommon and “happen from time to time.”

Law enforcement has not confirmed whether they believe the ransom note is actually from the kidnappers or a hoax to steal Bitcoin.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment further when contacted by Decrypt, but pointed to a statement previously issued on social media.

“We are aware of reports circulating about possible ransom note(s) regarding the investigation into Nancy Guthrie,” the sheriff’s office wrote Tuesday on X. “We are taking all tips and leads very seriously. Anything that comes in goes directly to our detectives, who are coordinating with the FBI.”

While the authenticity of the ransom note has not been confirmed, TMZ executive producer and co-host Charles Latibeaudiere said the messaging included a real Bitcoin address.

“One thing we should say is that we have confirmed the Bitcoin address that they’ve included is legit,” he said. The note also included a description of what Guthrie was wearing at the time and a damaged item in the house, TMZ said.

Decrypt has reached out to TMZ to confirm the address’s authenticity and will update this article should they respond. Representatives for Savannah Guthrie did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.

Bitcoin kidnappings and extortion

The use of Bitcoin in ransom demands dates back more than a decade, when early ransomware strains began demanding crypto payments to unlock encrypted files. The model later became widespread across cybercrime.

In recent years, that tactic has increasingly appeared in physical kidnapping, turning into so-called “wrench attacks” and extortion cases.

In April 2024, a Canadian family was tortured by assailants who demanded access to their crypto holdings. In November 2024, WonderFi CEO Dean Skurka was abducted in Toronto and released after a $720,000 ransom was paid.

Two months later, Ledger co-founder David Balland was kidnapped in France, which included a crypto ransom demand.

In the U.S., New York prosecutors in June of last year charged two men with kidnapping and torturing an Italian national for weeks in an alleged attempt to force access to his Bitcoin holdings.

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Vitalik Says Ethereum’s Layer 2 Vision ‘No Longer Makes Sense’

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Vitalik Says Ethereum’s Layer 2 Vision ‘No Longer Makes Sense’

The Ethereum co-founder argues for a pivot from the rollup-centric roadmap, citing progress made towards scaling the base layer.

After years of Layer 2 (L2) networks popping up in an attempt to scale Ethereum and claim market share, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says that the L2 model for scalability no longer makes sense due to the Layer 1’s (L1) scaling efforts.

“The original vision of L2s and their role in Ethereum no longer makes sense, and we need a new path,” Buterin wrote on X, citing issues such as slow progress towards decentralization, while noting that the Ethereum mainnet is scaling and consistently maintaining low gas costs.

Gas costs, in particular, were a major obstacle for decentralized finance (DeFi) power users in 2021 and 2022, when network activity surged amid the popularity of DeFi and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). During high-demand periods, such as a hyped NFT mint or a capped DeFi vault deposit, gas fees could skyrocket to thousands of dollars just to attempt a transaction, with no guarantee of its success.

The infamous Otherside NFT mint from the Bored Ape Yacht Club led to more than 55,000 ETH, worth $193 million at the time, being burned. While ETH holders who didn’t participate in the mint likely celebrated the supply burn, many users attempted to mint Otherside NFTs but failed, incinerating thousands of dollars in the process.

What Should Layer 2s Do Now?

Buterin went on to say that L2s can and should add value other than just scaling Ethereum. He cited features such as privacy, application-specific specialization, non-financial application-focused chains, various iterations of high-speed scaling, and lastly, built-in oracles or dispute resolution for applications like Polymarket.

Layer 2 tokens in particular have been a minefield for investors, with tokens of leading L2s such as ARB and OP falling more than 90% from their respective all-time highs, while other highly anticipated Layer 2 ecosystems, such as Blast, Scroll, and Linea, were unable to retain activity after their initial launch phases.

ARB Chart – CoinGecko

Bitcoin Miners Hit ‘Shutdown Prices’ as Profitability Slumps to Multi-Month Low

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Bitcoin Miners Hit ‘Shutdown Prices’ as Profitability Slumps to Multi-Month Low

Older and mid‑range mining rigs like the Antminer S19 XP+ Hydro, Whatsminer M60S and Avalon A1466I have reportedly already crossed shutdown thresholds, while even newer S21 units are nearing viability limits. The Profitability Cliff The bitcoin mining industry is facing a severe profitability squeeze this week as a combination of falling cryptocurrency prices and high […]

Nevada Authorities File Lawsuit against Coinbase over Unlicensed Wagering

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Nevada Authorities File Lawsuit against Coinbase over Unlicensed Wagering

The enforcement action over wagers on sports event contracts followed Coinbase announcing the launch of prediction markets in all 50 US states.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board announced that it had filed a civil enforcement action against Coinbase over wagers on sports event contracts.

In Monday filings in the First Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada in and for Carson City, the Nevada Gaming Control Board sued Coinbase Financial Markets over allegations the company offered unlicensed wagers on sporting events. Authorities followed by requesting that the court grant a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction preventing Coinbase from “operating a derivatives exchange and prediction market” related to sporting bets.

“The Board takes seriously its obligation to operate a thriving gaming industry and to protect Nevada citizens,” said Mike Dreitzer, chair of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, in a Tuesday statement. “The action taken yesterday reinforces this obligation.”

Source: Nevada Gaming Control Board

The action came less than a week after Coinbase announced it had launched prediction markets in all 50 US states as part of a partnership with Kalshi. While the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversees Kalshi at the federal level, the platform can still face legal challenges filed by state-level regulators, including Nevada’s.

Related: Tennessee sends cease-and-desist letters to Kalshi, Polymarket, Crypto.com

Cointelegraph reached out to a Coinbase spokesperson for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Polymarket faces similar legal challenges in Nevada

Last week, a Nevada court granted a temporary restraining order against a Polymarket operator, blocking the platform from offering bets on event‑based contracts to state residents. The judge overseeing the case cited “immediate” and “irreparable” harm to authorities’ ability to regulate betting without a license.