This is a more thorough follow-up to my original post about the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and people involved in the early development of Zerocash and Zcash (see: https://monero.forum/thread/zcash-epstein).
To be clear, I am not claiming that anything nefarious occurred, that Epstein funded or controlled Zcash, or that the coin was secretly backed by any three-letter agency. This began as a rabbit hole while I was researching Zcash’s origins and institutional history.
The material below is only one excerpt from a much larger collection of documents I have collected. This section focuses specifically on publicly available emails and messages connecting Epstein with Madars Virza and other figures around early Zcash and cryptocurrency research.
My wider research examines the institutions that funded the underlying academic work, Israeli and American institutional connections, private investors, lobbying and policy relationships, mining infrastructure, and the path that eventually led to the ZEC ETF.
I might post a follow-up (a sort of part 3?) if there is enough interest. I might share this to the wider world regardless, depending on how my research concludes.
So far, I have not found proof of foul play. What I have found may ultimately amount to little more than "well-connected people" conducting “good business.”
Still, you cannot dismiss the fact that there have been multi-year long relations and conversations between Epstein and adjacent figures which ought to raise enough flags to document and investigate carefully.
Below is a chronological summary of the relevant exchanges.
2014: Zerocash-adjacent prehistory, before Virza appears
| Date | Event and sources |
|---|---|
| July 24–September 13, 2014 | Epstein and Vincenzo Iozzo explore a separate transparent, identity-linked currency. Iozzo later proposes borrowing ZeroCash/zk-SNARK machinery and asks about the “government side”; another memo says the separate Xcoin idea would need government backing. EFTA00869828, EFTA00995269, EFTA02587613, EFTA00664430 |
| August 14, 2014 | Ito asks whether Epstein might fund Iozzo; Epstein does not commit. EFTA00669647 |
2015–2016: introduction and early technical/use-case contact
| Date | Event and sources |
|---|---|
| October 21, 2015 | Jeremy Rubin introduces Virza to Epstein and Ito specifically through Virza's Zerocash work, describes its privacy properties, and suggests Epstein might help identify real-world invariants. Rubin also asks whether “Ale” might join. EFTA01781741 |
| March 30, 2016 | Rubin tells Ito, copying Epstein, that Zerocash technology is more promising than Ethereum for cryptocurrency. EFTA01183900 |
| April 1–2, 2016 | Rubin says Virza found “today” engaging and would likely bring back ideas; Epstein replies that they might try an aid coin so government could trace where its money went. EFTA00830269 |
2017: the adviser handoff becomes explicitly Zcash-related
| Date | Event and sources |
|---|---|
| March 1, 2017 | A ZECC tax update says technical tax issues will delay the partnership return and final K-1s while the company works with tax advisers and a CPA. EFTA00615489 |
| March 27, 2017 | In an Epstein–Ito iMessage export, Ito says that of a discussed “bitcoin gang,” only Virza was a member of Ito's own research team. EFTA01620972 |
| April 11–16, 2017 | Epstein and Ito plan an MIT/Media Lab afternoon and explicitly add Virza; a day-of exchange settles the location and a later message says the session was fun. EFTA01620972, EFTA01049243, EFTA00696436, EFTA01049400 |
| May 31 / June 1, 2017 | A ZECC update changes the company's intended federal tax treatment of the Founders' Reward, explains partner allocations and tells recipients to obtain their own tax advice. EFTA00615490 |
| June 29–30, 2017 | Ito says only Virza is free the next day; Epstein agrees. A full July 1 chain then includes Epstein thanking Ito for the prior day and Ito saying Virza learns quickly and recounting a personal question Virza asked about Epstein. EFTA01041866, EFTA01042845 |
| June 30, 2017, 18:08–18:12 | Epstein writes “Joi Alan madaris”; Ito adds Virza to a message copied to tax adviser Alan Dlugash. EFTA01041937, EFTA00678154 |
| July 1, 2017, 06:03 | Epstein says he will pay for Virza's adviser and that Virza can return the favor sometime. EFTA01042845 |
| July 3, 2017 | After Dlugash asks what he should do, Epstein says Virza has interesting issues and that he and Dlugash can find a solution. EFTA01041331 |
| July 6–7, 2017 | Epstein tells Ito that Virza has not called Dlugash; Ito replies that he is checking. EFTA01047323, EFTA00702593 |
| July 7, 2017 | Dlugash says he has not heard from Virza. Epstein replies that Virza owns a company called “z cash” and that tax consequences of company decisions need to be worked out. EFTA01040963 |
| July 8, 2017 | Epstein tells Ito that Mongolia would let “us” enter the digital-currency world if Ito and Virza are interested. In a related sovereign-coin chain he proposes “Genghis Coin” and cites Zcash as an architectural example. EFTA01041013, EFTA01041151 |
| July 12, 2017 | Epstein tells Dlugash and Richard Kahn to call after reviewing Virza's material. Dlugash replies to Epstein, copying Kahn, that he is ready for a first discussion of the questions, structure and tax consequences and asks whether to contact Virza first. EFTA01040644, EFTA00710226 |
| November 22, 2017 | Ito tells Epstein that Virza is doing well, that his PhD paper won an award and that he found a vulnerability in ING's new cryptocurrency. EFTA01001974 |
2018: partnership, tax, custody and legal advice
| Date | Event and sources |
|---|---|
| January 3–12, 2018 | A DCI meeting invitation names Epstein, Ito, Virza, Neha Narula and Rob Ali; the event is then canceled. EFTA00466063, EFTA00467461 |
| January 23, 2018 | Kahn forwards Epstein a tax-law alert explaining that the new Tax Act limits §1031 exchanges to real property and excludes Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. EFTA01036338 |
| February 16–17, 2018 | Staff arrange a 4 p.m. session involving Epstein, Ito, Virza, Narula, Ali and Tadge Dryja, including food. EFTA00469669, EFTA00469949 |
| February 18, 2018 | A direct Epstein-to-Virza email exists, but the released page contains no subject or substantive body. EFTA00881216 |
| February 20, 2018 | Epstein says he thinks he has Virza's answer. Virza discusses selling a partnership interest, how its implied coin share should follow consensus rules after a fork, and jokes about Epstein taking half of the savings; Epstein says the answer depends on the partnership documents. EFTA00882137, EFTA00882401 |
| February 22–March 5, 2018 | Within days, Epstein also connects Dlugash with crypto figure Brock Pierce around a Coinbase-related transaction and tax-return issue. EFTA00878961, EFTA00867398, EFTA00867629 |
| March 20–25, 2018 | Staff and Ito repeatedly arrange a March 25 Harvard/Bedford session with Ito and Virza. Virza later calls the Sunday “magical” and refers to a question they discussed; Ito separately says Virza reported being asked about his motive. EFTA00850551, EFTA00849957, EFTA01620989 |
| March 22, 2018, 20:04 UTC | Epstein's assistant asks Dlugash to call him. EFTA00471134 |
| March 22, 2018, 22:55 UTC | Virza sends Epstein Zcash_Tax_Memo_-_Final03.22.2018.pdf, summarizes counsel's conclusions on company-retained and partner-distributed ZEC, and says Epstein might find something new. A separately produced Perkins Coie memorandum to ZECC dated that day appears to be the attachment. EFTA00851916, EFTA00811130 |
| March 23, 2018 | Dlugash schedules an Epstein call described as a conference with Peter Morris. EFTA00471171 |
| March 27–28, 2018 | Epstein's calendar places Kellerhals two days after the corroborated Virza encounter, but follow-up records show she could not rearrange another client meeting and the appointment did not occur; Epstein suggested trying a phone call later. EFTA00850537, EFTA02492389, EFTA00471388 |
| March 28, 2018 | Virza sends Epstein an OFAC question about source and destination addresses, noting that some currencies prevent recipients from learning source addresses. EFTA02493146 |
| April 2, 2018 | Virza forwards Margaret Baily's draft-K-1 email, explains roughly $200,000 in auction proceeds, company sales, company-held coins and his wish to control keys before a possible fork, and asks to call Epstein. EFTA00842748 |
| April 16–18, 2018 | Epstein introduces Virza to USVI attorney Erika Kellerhals, saying Virza needs to set up a Virgin Islands transaction. Kellerhals offers to help; Virza thanks both and says he will call her. EFTA02471327, EFTA02469106 |
| April 25–May 6, 2018 | Ito proposes inviting Virza “as usual”; Epstein agrees. Ito later says Virza is coming, and multiple schedules list him as confirmed for a May 6 group session. EFTA02244572, EFTA02244789, EFTA02245244, EFTA02450439 |
| May 7, 2018 | The day after the group session, Epstein's assistant asks Dlugash to call; Dlugash reports two unanswered attempts. EFTA00473715, EFTA00812967 |
| May 19, 2018 | Epstein checks on Virza after an accident; they discuss Epstein's upcoming New York date and Virza says he would love to stop by. EFTA01210552 |
| May 21, 2018, 11:21–11:32 UTC | Epstein tells Ito a tenants-in-common structure for bitcoin is highly problematic for government. Ito discusses multisignature custody, proposes that he and Virza might hold bitcoin in such a structure, and explores real-estate-backed tokens; Epstein raises disclosure and key-swapping uncertainty. The January Kahn alert had already given Epstein the applicable §1031 rule. EFTA01620998, EFTA01036338 |
| May 21, 2018, 11:21–13:19 UTC | Forty-three seconds after opening the issue with Ito, Epstein raises the same tenants-in-common/government problem with Virza. Virza asks how much more confusing it becomes digitally and later invokes split keys; Epstein lists jurisdiction, nominees, custody, powers of attorney, conditional receipt and constructive sale. About one minute after that list, Epstein sends substantially the same list to Steve Bannon during a discussion of possible Form 1040 crypto disclosure. EFTA01210572, EFTA01615097 |
| May 23, 2018 | Virza asks whether Epstein will obtain favorable cryptocurrency provisions in possible new tax cuts. EFTA01210591 |
| May 29–June 4, 2018 | Epstein asks staff to arrange a separate meeting with Virza. Virza says he would be delighted; a June 3 visit is reconfirmed. On June 4 Epstein asks by Skype where he is, Virza realizes he missed a message and says he should be able to make the proposed time. EFTA00474319, EFTA01210690 |
| June 12, 2018 | Virza refers back to an earlier Epstein discussion about his girlfriend's citizenship and its tax advantages or disadvantages. EFTA01210803 |
| August 11 and September 19, 2018 | Epstein forwards Ito and Virza extensive Andra Capital material about tokenized, non-voting LP interests and asks them to consider the structure. EFTA01006996, EFTA01022568 |
| September 28–29, 2018 | Epstein asks Ito why he has not heard back from “madaras.” Ito says Virza is around, focused on something and has been rather unresponsive, then asks what they had been discussing. EFTA01021495 |
| October 1–2, 2018 | Virza explains Tether, Gemini Dollar and Dai; Epstein asks about exchange economics and anonymity and proposes Skype. Virza notes Gemini's regulated Zcash listing as an example. EFTA01021087 |
| December 4, 2018 | Virza asks for Epstein's address for a holiday item and says he prays for him; Epstein replies with a joke about prayer and mathematics. EFTA02264505, EFTA01014362 |
2019: requested crypto meeting and corroborated visit
| Date | Event and sources |
|---|---|
| April 3–5, 2019 | Epstein's calendar lists meetings with Kahn, Dlugash and Kellerhals earlier in April. EFTA00285728 |
| April 18–28, 2019 | Virza asks Epstein's office if he can visit privately and “chat ... about crypto.” Epstein and staff move the appointment to April 29. EFTA02281431, EFTA00493262 |
| April 29–May 3, 2019 | Real-time messages place Virza at the residence; staff later say he “was here,” Virza refers to leaving, and he reports a tremendous meeting. His package contained books on Bitcoin and probability. On May 3, he praises a Leibniz book and says he cannot wait to return to New York. EFTA00494107, EFTA00494137, EFTA00494138, EFTA00494152, EFTA01612458 |
Signature
nullsink // AI inference without identity // no accounts // XMR + BTC