Epstein Confirms Government Discussion on Cryptocurrency Taxation in 2013

According to documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice's Epstein Library, Jeffrey Epstein evaluated Bitcoin as having "interesting elements" in an email sent to cryptographer Whitfield Diffie on January 31, 2013, discussing a structure for digital currency that would allow the government to retain transaction records and directly collect taxes. Epstein argued that digital currency could be "anonymous for some and transparent for others," proposing a system where each currency unit is assigned a serial number and transaction records are maintained. He supported a structure where the government, as the issuer of currency, retains transaction records and directly collects taxes. Diffie assessed digital currency as a "natural evolution," but mentioned that if anonymity is not required, it could also be implemented using existing payment security technologies. While it has not been confirmed that Epstein actually developed or commercialized such digital currency, it is confirmed that he discussed its characteristics, taxation, and government management of transaction records in detail from the early days of Bitcoin's emergence.

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