Ethereum Developer Gets Real Time for Collaborating with North Korea

Virgil Griffith, a former Ethereum Foundation staff member and researcher, has been sentenced to five years in prison. According to the decision of American justice, Griffith received such a term for cooperation with the DPRK in the use of crypto assets to circumvent sanctions. Moreover, the employee must pay $100,000 in fines.

As the investigation showed, since 2018 Virgil Griffith has been advising and helping specialists from the DPRK in the development of a cryptocurrency system, including mining hardware. In 2019, the specialist was seen at a conference in North Korea, where blockchain technologies were discussed. At the same time, Griffith was officially banned from traveling by the American authorities. The developer spoke about the advantages of crypto technologies, and also said that the DPRK can use this solution to circumvent the negative impact of sanctions, money laundering and other illegal operations.

According to the investigation, Griffith also intended to help North Korea prepare a digital asset exchange with South Korea.

As a result - 63 months of imprisonment. Griffith was arrested in 2019, but 2020 was released on bail of the property of his parents and sister (about $1 million). In 2021, the employee would be re-imprisoned and in September he fully admitted his guilt.