The Epstein Class · Investigation · 1999–2026
Epstein's crypto guy.
The man who co-founded Tether appears more than 1,800 times in the Epstein files. He put Epstein into Coinbase and Blockstream — and before crypto, he built a company with a man later convicted of abusing boys.
FACT
§2 · Thesis
The company that issues the world's largest private dollar was co-founded by a man who did years of business with Jeffrey Epstein.
The files, the deals, and the DEN history are FACT. Association is not guilt: Pierce was dropped from the DEN abuse suits and denies wrongdoing — we hold that line.
The number
~1,801mentions in the files
how many times Brock Pierce appears in the Justice Department's released Epstein documents — in investor updates and emails arranging meetings, not a one-off.
Fortune / Decrypt (2026)
§5 · Graded Claim
He steered Epstein into Coinbase — a $3M investment in 2014.
FACT
Unsealed documents confirm Epstein invested $3M in Coinbase in 2014 (when it was valued at ~$400M), facilitated by Pierce through his firm (later Blockchain Capital). One of the most lucrative early crypto bets there was.
§5 · Graded Claim
A 2018 email shows a $15M wire tied to Epstein's Coinbase stake — and Epstein also backed Blockstream.
FACT
Reporting on the files describes a 2018 email in which Pierce wired $15M to Epstein for about half of Epstein's Coinbase equity; the files also show Epstein invested in Blockstream, confirmed by co-founder Adam Back (who denies a personal relationship). Money moved both ways.
§5 · Graded Claim
Before crypto, he co-founded DEN with a man later convicted of child sexual abuse.
FACT
As a teenager Pierce was a VP of Digital Entertainment Network, run with Marc Collins-Rector — indicted in 2000 for transporting minors for sex, who fled the country and was convicted as a child sex offender in 2004. Documented, not disputed.
§5 · Graded Claim
Pierce was a co-defendant in the DEN abuse suits — then dropped, and settled with one accuser.
FACT
Civil suits over abuse at DEN named Pierce alongside Collins-Rector; Pierce was dropped from the case and settled with one man for about $21,600, without admitting liability. That's the precise record — an association and a settlement, not a finding that Pierce abused anyone. He has since expressed regret over his Epstein ties.
§7 · Why it matters now
The money behind the private dollar has a history.
That Tether's co-founder spent years doing business with Epstein doesn't make the coin a crime — but it's worth knowing about who built it, and it belongs in The Epstein Class. It's the origin chapter of the private-dollar cluster: The Private Dollar is what Tether became; The Secretary and the Stablecoin is the Washington end.
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