Newly declassified documents disclosed by crypto journalist Kyle Torpey reveal that in August 2018, Jeffrey Epstein, in a conversation with Bitcoin developer Jeremy, expressed ethical concerns about manipulating cryptocurrency prices and therefore refused to participate in related transactions. He stated that he preferred to fund other projects but did not want to be publicly involved in any ethical controversies. The documents also disclose an email Brian Armstrong sent to investors in February 2016. In the email, Armstrong stated that Coinbase was pushing for a network upgrade behind the scenes to avoid being dragged down by "early idealists" and anticipated a 2MB block hard fork within the next one to two months. However, this hard fork ultimately failed to materialize, with the final attempt abandoned in the fall of 2017, citing perceived corporate interests as the primary driver and a lack of community consensus.