Evidence Brief · Return-first reconstruction · Equity records · Source-locked
Coinbase in Reverse: The $15M Exit That Proves the Position
The original Coinbase funding wire is missing from the recovered bank corpus. But the position can still be reconstructed backward: a 2015 internal ledger records $3.001 million of Coinbase cost, and a February 2018 Deutsche Bank statement shows three Blockchain Capital-related credits totaling exactly $15 million into the 2017 Caterpillar Trust the day correspondence says half of the Coinbase position was sold or transferred.
Executive finding
The archive proves the economic interest and exit, not the original bank funding path.
The Coinbase lane is classified BANK-5 for exit/economic interest only. Legal/email records establish a Series C equity position; the 2018 Caterpillar statement proves the exit proceeds. The original paying entity and outgoing bank transaction remain unresolved.
Person in the exit record
The later sale is described in correspondence from Brock Pierce
Pierce’s February 2018 email reports that $15 million had been wired for half of the Coinbase position. The same-day bank credits are independently visible in the Caterpillar statement.
Photo: Sebastiaan ter Burg, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Source provenance
The position can be reconstructed backward from ledger, correspondence, and bank credits
The original purchase wire remains missing. These records show why the later exit can nevertheless establish an economic position.
The one-page investment update carries Coinbase at $3.001 million cost.
The three-page correspondence family says $15 million had been wired for half of the Coinbase position; this is page 1.
The three-page bank statement family contains the matching February 21 credits; this is page 1.
Receipt images are source/PDF viewer renders. Use the linked viewer for the controlling document and page navigation.
December 2014: Series C access appears
In EFTA00679451, Brock Pierce forwards Coinbase Series C materials and tells Epstein that allocation is available if he is interested and can move quickly. The message describes a roughly $60 million financing round and names several institutional investors.
This is opportunity and deal-context evidence. By itself it is not proof that money moved.
April 2015: the position is recorded at $3.001 million cost
A Richard Kahn email at EFTA02505439 lists outstanding investments “at cost,” including Coinbase — $3,001,000. The same list initially groups Coinbase with Joi Ito-related investments.
Minutes later, Epstein corrects that classification. In EFTA02505570, he writes simply: “coinbase is not joi.” Kahn acknowledges the correction. That matters because it prevents the Coinbase position from being misattributed to one of the Kyara/Joi vehicles merely because it appeared in the same investment update.
February 2018: the exit appears before the original funding wire does
On February 22, 2018, Brock Pierce emails Epstein in EFTA02523986 and says Brad Stephens reported that $15 million had been wired for half of Epstein's Coinbase position the previous day. Pierce's message says Epstein would still have another $15 million of equity if that transaction had closed.
That statement is independently matched by the bank record. The February 16–28 Deutsche Bank statement for The 2017 Caterpillar Trust at EFTA01287396 shows three incoming February 21 wires totaling exactly $15,000,000:
- $1,875,000 from Blockchain Capital Parallel Fund IV, LP;
- $2,625,000 from a Blockchain Capital / Digital Liquid Venture Fund vehicle;
- $10,500,000 from Blockchain Capital IV, LP.
Those three credits are one economic exit event, not three separate Coinbase sales.
What can be inferred from the numbers—and what cannot
Pierce's wording implies that selling half the position for $15 million left roughly $15 million of equity, which corresponds to a contemporaneous approximately $30 million total position value in his description. Separately, Kahn's 2015 ledger records $3.001 million at cost.
GAH does not convert those two facts into a realized-gain figure. The archive does not establish the tax basis allocation of the sold half, fees, transaction costs, later adjustments, or whether the entire $3.001 million cost record remained unchanged through the 2018 transaction.
Why this is a return-first finding
Most investment reconstructions start with an outgoing wire. This one works backward. The archive contains:
- a contemporaneous Series C opportunity package;
- a later internal equity-cost record;
- correspondence describing a $15 million sale of half the position; and
- a same-day bank statement proving three credits totaling exactly $15 million.
What it does not contain is the original outgoing bank row showing which Epstein-associated entity paid the $3.001 million. That missing debit prevents classifying the original funding leg as bank-proven.
Claim / source / limit
| Claim | Source | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Coinbase Series C allocation was offered. | EFTA00679451 | Opportunity evidence, not settlement. |
| A Coinbase position was carried at $3.001M cost. | EFTA02505439 | Internal investment ledger; paying entity not identified. |
| Coinbase was not one of the Joi-position items. | EFTA02505570 | Classification correction only. |
| $15M was described as payment for half the Coinbase position. | EFTA02523986 | Correspondence describing the transaction. |
| Caterpillar received exactly $15M in three matching credits on Feb. 21, 2018. | EFTA01287396 | Bank proof of inflow; statement does not itself print “Coinbase.” |
What this brief does not establish
- Which Epstein-associated entity originally paid the $3.001 million.
- The bank/account from which the original Coinbase investment was funded.
- A precise realized gain on the February 2018 half-position transaction.
- That the three incoming wires represent three separate sales.
- Any wrongdoing arising from the investment or sale.
Why this matters to the archive method
The Coinbase record demonstrates that a missing purchase wire does not erase a provable economic interest. A later sale can expose the position backward—if equity records, correspondence and bank receipts converge tightly enough.
The machine-readable source list and open gaps are published at source-manifest.json.
Related: Three Kyara SPVs · Shared administration / no money crossover · Methodology