A screenshot shared on social media in February 2026 authentically showed an email from the Epstein files proving that he was Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin.
In January and February 2026, the U.S. Department of Jutice (DOJ) began releasing its entire collection of documents related to the late disgraced financier and sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act,
As members of the public reviewed the files, various rumors about their contents spread online. One such claim circulating on social media alleged that an email written by Epstein proved he was Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin. The posts included an image claiming to show the email, which was supposedly sent by Epstein to his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, in October 2008.
(X user @TheRealSantino)
Snopes readers wrote in to ask whether the email was real.
However, the alleged email was fake. There was no record of it in the files released by the DOJ, and the image shared online contained inconsistencies suggesting it was doctored.
The alleged email was dated Oct. 31, 2008, and was supposedly sent by Epstein from the address [email protected] to Ghislaine Maxwell at [email protected], with the subject line “RE: Project “Bitcoin” Funding & Whitepaper.”
Snopes searched the DOJ’s publicly available repository of files on Epstein using terms found in the email. A search for “Satoshi” returned 24 results, while “Nakamoto” returned 26. However, searches for more specific phrases — such as “Satoshi pseudonym,” “Our little digital gold mine” or “Project ‘Bitcoin’ Funding & Whitepaper” — returned no results.
We also searched other repositories hosting the Epstein documents, including the jmail.world site, for the same phrases. Similarly, we found no matches.
From there, we reviewed all documents that contained references to “Satoshi” and “Nakamoto.”
Those documents included newsletters, emails between Epstein and others discussing cryptocurrencies, informational slide decks on cryptocurrency — at least one of which appeared to present a Bitcoin investment opportunity — and academic articles on technologies related to cryptocurrency.
None of the documents matched the purported email. As such, we concluded that it was not present in the files.
Meanwhile, the image contained several inconsistencies suggesting it was doctored. For example, below the email’s date and subject line, there were two different “To:” lines — one filled with Epstein’s email and another filled with the subject. A duplicated “To:” line was not present in other emails included in the files.
(X user @TheRealSantino)
Additionally, Maxwell’s email address was linked to the TerraMar Project via the domain terramar.org. While Maxwell founded the organization to “encourage conservancy of the high seas” in 2012, according to Business Insider, the email in question was supposedly sent years earlier.
Snopes also searched Epstein repositories for other emails beginning with “Hi Bine,” which we interpreted as a nickname for Maxwell. Again, no such emails existed. Referring to Maxwell by the nickname “Bine” exactly once in an email and never again seems improbable, providing further evidence that the email was fake.
Snopes was unable to determine who created the fabricated email at the time of publication.
