Washington, April 13: A former US researcher of a cryptocurrency organisation has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for conspiring to held North Korea avoid US sanctions via cryptocurrency. Virgil Griffith, former employee of Ethereum Foundation, had pleaded guilty to to conspiring to violate the US International Emergency Economic Powers Act by traveling to North Korea’s capital Pyongyang to give a presentation on blockchain technology, BBC reported.
Terming the sentence as disappointing, Griffith’s lawyer on Tuesday said that the judge “acknowledged Virgil’s commitment to moving forward with his life productively, and that he is a talented person who has a lot to contribute.” While presenting his case, Griffith said, “The most important feature of blockchains is that they are open. And the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] can’t be kept out no matter what the USA or the UN says.”
BBC quoted the prosecutors as saying that the accused, who has a doctorate from the California Institute of Technology, travelled to North Korea via China in April 2019 to speak at the Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference, despite being denied permission by the US Department of State to go. In September, the US Department of Justice said he had “jeopardised the national security of the United States” by undermining sanctions. UNI
