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Jeffrey Epstein saw promise in Bitcoin — and its far-right supporters

2026-03-05T15:47:19-05:00

The tranche of Jeffrey Epstein emails and files released on January 30th tie the infamous pedophile, sex trafficker, and influence peddler to elite figures across the tech industry. The world of cryptocurrency is no exception. Epstein's connections are intriguing, disturbing - and worth mapping closely.

With his interest first piqued as early as 2011, Epstein was ahead of the game on crypto. The financier understood it as a tool for clandestine payments and shady international finance, and found prominent community members more than willing to welcome him. Bitcoin wasn't even invented until 2009, which means all of Epstein's crypto connect …

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The price of Bitcoin drops below $65,000

2026-02-05T15:38:01-05:00

On Thursday, Bitcoin's value fell over 10 percent in a single day, dropping to around $64,000, the lowest it has been since the 2024 Presidential election, as CNBC reports. After crossing $100,000 in November 2024 and peaking at over $122,000 in October 2025, the cryptocurrency has been in a steady decline for the last several weeks.

Here are some other crypto headlines that have popped up as Bitcoin's price continues to slide:

Ethereum-focused treasury BitMine's hoard lost over $8 billion in value on Thursday as Ether dropped below $2,000, CoinDesk reports.
Bitcoin has effectively erased "all gains since its $69,000 all-time high in …

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Billion-dollar Bitcoin hacker Ilya Lichtenstein thanks Trump for early prison release

2026-01-02T14:51:18-05:00

Just over a year after being sentenced to five years in prison for the theft of billions of dollars in Bitcoin, hacker Ilya Lichtenstein is free. Lichtenstein announced his release in a post on X, specifically crediting Trump: "Thanks to President Trump's First Step Act, I have been released from prison early. I remain committed to making a positive impact in cybersecurity as soon as I can."

Thanks to President Trump's First Step Act, I have been released from prison early.
I remain committed to making a positive impact in cybersecurity as soon as I can.

To the supporters, thank you for everything.
To the haters, I look forward to proving yo …

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AI could consume more power than Bitcoin by the end of 2025

2025-05-30T18:53:19-04:00

AI could soon surpass Bitcoin mining in energy consumption, according to a new analysis that concludes artificial intelligence could use close to half of all the electricity consumed by data centers globally by the end of 2025.

The estimates come from Alex de Vries-Gao, a PhD candidate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Institute for Environmental Studies who has tracked cryptocurrencies' electricity consumption and environmental impact in previous research and on his website Digiconomist. He published his latest commentary on AI's growing electricity demand last week in the journal Joule.

AI already accounts for up to a fifth of the electri …

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Bitcoin just hit $100,000

2024-12-04T22:41:08-05:00

Bitcoin has passed $100,000, marking its highest price since the cryptocurrency launched more than a decade ago, and as of this writing, it has reached $103,359.00, according to Kraken. Despite its triumphs, Bitcoin's value is still being measured in USD, emerging as an alternate payment option or investment rather than a replacement for fiat currency.

The price of Bitcoin spiked following the news that Donald Trump won the 2024 US Presidential Election. Bitcoin sat around $69,000 on Election Day but later shot to $75,000 following the news that Trump won, according to data from CoinDesk. Its price has been rising since, as investors expect …

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Razzlekhan, crypto’s most embarrassing rapper, is going to prison

2024-11-18T17:25:16-05:00

A federal judge has sentenced Heather Morgan to 18 months in prison for her role in helping husband Ilya "Dutch" Lichtenstein launder stolen Bitcoin, CoinDesk reports. Lichtenstein has admitted to hacking the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016 and stealing 120,000 Bitcoin, worth $71 million at the time (and almost $11 billion as of this writing).

Before she was arrested, Morgan was a Forbes and Inc. blogger. When the Department of Justice announced her arrest, the internet found out she also made crypto-themed rap videos under the name "Razzlekhan." The whole story is expected to be immortalized in a Netflix documentary series and a f …

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An Ohio man guilty of Bitcoin laundering must forfeit over $400 million in assets

2024-11-17T17:19:37-05:00

An Ohio man named Larry Dean Harmon will serve three years in prison and forfeit more than $400 million worth of cryptocurrency and other assets, the Department of Justice announced on Friday. Harmon was indicted in 2020 on money laundering conspiracy charges related to Helix, a darkweb cryptocurrency "mixer" service he ran.

Also known as crypto "tumbling," services like Helix are designed to hide cryptocurrency transactions - often for illegal drugs - and the identity of people involved. From 2014 to 2017, Harmon processed more than 350,000 Bitcoin (about $311 million USD at the time) in such transactions, according to the DOJ's announceme …

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Bitfinex hacker receives five-year sentence for record-breaking crypto heist

2024-11-15T08:44:02-05:00

The hacker behind one of the biggest-ever cryptocurrency heists will serve five years in prison for conspiring with his wife to launder billions in stolen Bitcoin. Ilya "Dutch" Lichtenstein was sentenced in Washington federal court Thursday after he admitted to hacking the Bitfinex crypto exchange in 2016 and stealing almost 120,000 Bitcoin tokens.

Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan were arrested in 2022, and in August last year both pled guilty to conspiring to commit money laundering. The stolen cryptocurrency, worth around $71 million at the time of the theft, had soared in value to approximately $4.5 billion by the time Lichtenste …

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Pump and Trump

2024-08-02T07:30:00-04:00

There were rumors that Elon Musk would introduce former President Donald Trump before his keynote speech at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference. Musk had pledged to donate tens of millions to a Trump super PAC; he was close with JD Vance, Trump's vice presidential nominee; he was into crypto and memes. People tracked Musk's jet and noticed it was reducing altitude over Tennessee. It was happening. It would be historic.

The Bitcoin Conference is an annual affair, and each year, it's bigger and flashier than the one before. The last few were in Miami, Florida; this time, the conference was moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to take place only a week afte …

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UK court calls man claiming to have invented Bitcoin a liar

2024-05-22T15:29:43-04:00

Judge Mellor ruled that Craig Wright (pictured) lied “extensively and repeatedly” about being Satoshi Nakamoto. | Photo by Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

Australian computer scientist Craig Wright lied "extensively and repeatedly" to courts and committed forgery "on a grand scale" in efforts to falsely claim that he invented Bitcoin, a judge at London's High Court ruled on Monday.

Wright has long claimed to be "Satoshi Nakamoto" - the pseudonym used by the author of Bitcoin's 2008 foundational white paper. Very little is known about the mysterious cryptocurrency creator, though they're widely presumed to be the largest holder of Bitcoin, controlling an estimated 1.1 million BTC (worth roughly $77 billion at the time of writing).

Satoshi's identity was connected to Wright in reports publishe …

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