Ethereum Dev Heads to Prison for DPRK Crypto Presentation

~3 min read | Published on 2022-04-26, tagged North-KoreaSentenced using 555 words.

Virgil Griffith, the Ethereum developer who violated economic sanctions by providing the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with information about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, was sentenced to 63 months in prison.
Griffith, 39, had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Under IEEPA, U.S. citizens are prohibited from “exporting any goods, services or technology to the DPRK without a license from the Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).”

Virgil Griffith



Griffith also helped Swartz develop Tor2Web in 2008.
In 2019, Griffith traveled to the “Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference” in the DPRK. The U.S. Department of State previously denied Griffith’s request to travel to the DPRK. At the conference:
Griffith delivered presentations at the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference tailored to the DPRK audience, knowing that doing so violated sanctions against the DPRK.

The audacity.



Griffith’s presentation at the conference was titled “Blockchain and Peace.” U.S. authorities wrote that Griffith wanted to help “the DPRK achieve independence from the global banking system,” which the U.S. government explicitly opposes. In the criminal complaint, an FBI Special Agent highlighted the criminal elements of Griffith’s presentations:
At the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference, Griffith and other attendees discussed how blockchain and cryptocurrency technology could be used by the DPRK to launder money and evade sanctions and how the DPRK could use these technologies to achieve independence from the global banking system. Griffith’s presentation at the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference was titled “Blockchain and Peace,” and he discussed, among other things, how blockchain technology, including a “smart contract,” could be used to benefit the DPRK. Griffith identified several DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference attendees who, during his presentation, asked more specific questions of Griffith and prompted discussions on technical issues such as “proof of work” versus “proof of stake.

In November 2019, the FBI conducted a so-called “consensual interview” with Griffith. In the interview, Griffith discussed his presentation in the DPRK in more detail. He said that the government in Korea had approved of the topics within his presentation and that “attendees left the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference with a better understanding of cryptocurrency and blockchain than when they arrived.” Griffith acknowledged that his presentation amounted to a “non-zero tech transfer” from him to other attendees. The FBI also noted that Griffith wanted to obtain citizenship in another jurisdiction.
A judge initially denied Griffith’s bail application, but Judge Vernon S. Broderick in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a $1 million bond and allowed Griffith to use email and keep his passport card. Griffith later violated his bail conditions by signing into his Coinbase account and attempting to access his frozen assets:
I presume my account was restricted due to the pending litigation against me. My lawyers now tell me that it is permitted for me to access my cryptocurrency on [the Exchange] . . . . Related: I’m going to need the 2FA [two-factor authentication] removed as the FBI took my devices away.

In April 2022, Griffith was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison.
[em]U.S. Citizen Who Conspired to Assist North Korea in Evading Sanctions Sentenced to Over Five Years and Fined $100,000[/em] archive.is, onion, archive.org, justice.gov
complaint pdf

DPRK will continue to achieve independence from the “global banking system.”


(video)
Also, Griffith’s sentence was announced earlier this month (April). I just noticed it when looking through recent USAO announcements for ones I had missed.

Comments (33)


CUNTS2022-04-27
88fd6480

yes this is the freedom of u.s. cunts

fuckukraine2022-04-27
89e37ec0

darknetlive you dont have to censor our speach here, fuck ukraine XUPA HURA

donkeycry2022-04-27
0af4a780

ayo tru dat FUCK dat uncle tom ass bitch zelinsky always cryin bout his fee fees on cnn HOW WE GOT ALL DIS AIR BUT FLOYD COULDNT BREATHE? HOW WE GOT ALL DESE HOES BUT WE AINT REAP SHIT? HOW DONKEYSQUAD SPITTIN ALL THES BARS BUT HE AINT GET HIS K PACK? HOW DARKFAIL SNITCH WHEN HE SUCKIN ALL THAT DICK? DNL HOW U GOT ALL THESE ONIONS BUT U AINT CRY FOR ME SMH

DNL2022-04-27
05720440

As if I have ever censored any comments critical of the Ukraine

cucks2022-04-27
8efef490

u censor shit all the [snip]

dnl2022-04-27
b58148a0

n00bz and the new owner of DNL; never-mind the Uncle Ruckus, no relation, bots. they come with the territory of the darkInterWebz

Ozamataz2022-04-27
4249c070

You can tell someone is very young and not too bright when they use ALLCAPS to mimic their own childishly screaming retard inner-monologues in which they blurt out the word "cuck" every 3 seconds in a Tourettes-like spasm. This is typically followed by ignorant and unoriginal attempts at racial slurs, regurgitations and piss-poor attempts to be shocking on a forum where no one will care. Commenting "bitch ass nigga cuck" only proves to everyone that you cannot think for yourself. You just parrot whatever you think will get a reaction because mommy didn't love you enough, and who could blame her?

DNL2022-04-27
d8bb3630

I don't let a group of poorly-behaved teenagers run through my house while screaming at the top of their lungs at all hours of the day. I see no reason to subject myself and others to it here. I will most likely start moderation once again and perhaps utilize a whitelist with the username+email combinations from people who regularly contribute to a conversation rather than allowing one or two retards projectile vomit all over the comment section.

donkeysquad2022-04-27
93676150

ayo u-u mean like me dnl im whitelisted rite? U aint gon f-finna blacklist be rite U-u-u woulkdnt do dat would u dnl? 84fe64fa ayo u must be smart and sucessful if u spend all day cryin about sucessful industry niggas shitposts 2 dnl lmao ur d same as us u just want to feel superior cuz ur a faulure ahahaha ohnoononono fo real tho @dnl if u want me 2 contribute i can cuz <3

DNL2022-04-27
ff0a8170

@913ef40e No I wouldn't blacklist you donkey

iamright2022-04-28
bb1632c0

Nah the "bitch, nigga, cunt, cuck, faggot" crew have been around for a long time on fascist sites like stormfront repeating the word "cuck" every other word like it confers some sort of higher level status in those circles. It's just the natural way people in that basement dwelling subculture talk.

MuskTesla2022-04-27
5ff1d0e0

The comments on DNL is what I expect the new Twitter to be like now that Elon Musk owns that shit.

DNL2022-04-27
29cc9350

Maybe, maybe not. People can write things here that would get them banned on Twitter currently. But only in some insane ideological world does open discussion include spam, attempts to shut down discussion, state-sponsored ops, etc. I can't imagine the way Twitter handles literal spam will change that much. If he is trying to do what he says, then perhaps you might find a mean word or a cookie monster joke if you searched for it. Perhaps he could make it easier to implement block lists based on social graphs or general content. I don't see that being useful in practice since you select what you want to see on Twitter. I am skeptical that he will do anything but allow some of the mainstream boomer "right wing" personalities back on it because they have a significant audience.

Bins2022-04-28
d16b2f40

Ya dude, depends on what servers you keep your home at dude, font is all funky on an iPhone DNL, y’all keepin it rail out there?

AWS2022-04-28
e5937170

AWS

987cas9c798asc792022-04-27
80147080

THIS SYSTEM, IF IT EVER EXISTED, EXISTS IN GREATER POWER TODAY. IT IS TODAY, HOWEVER, THREATENED AS IT NEVER HAS BEEN. FIFTY YEARS AGO, INTERNATIONAL BANKING, WHICH WAS MOSTLY IN CONTROL OF THE JEWS AS THE MONEY BROKERS OF THE WORLD, WAS ON TOP OF BUSINESS. IT EXERCISED THE SUPERCONTROL OF GOVERNMENTS AND FINANCE EVERYWHERE. THEN CAME THAT NEW THING, INDUSTRY, WHICH EXPANDED TO A DEGREE UNGUESSED BY THE SHREWDEST PROPHETS AND ANALYSTS. AS INDUSTRY GATHERED STRENGTH AND POWER IT BECAME A POWERFUL MONEY MAGNET, DRAWING THE WEALTH OF THE WORLD IN ITS TRAIN, NOT, HOWEVER, MERELY FOR THE SAKE OF POSSESSING THE MONEY, BUT MAKING IT WORK. PRODUCTION AND PROFIT ON PRODUCTION, INSTEAD OF LOANS AND INTEREST ON LOANS, BECAME THE MASTER METHOD FOR A TIME. THE WAR CAME, IN WHICH THE FORMER BROKER-MASTERS OF THE WORLD HAD UNDOUBTEDLY THEIR LARGE PART. AND NOW THE TWO FORCES, INDUSTRY AND FINANCE, ARE IN A STRUGGLE TO SEE WHETHER FINANCE IS AGAIN TO BECOME THE MASTER, OR CREATIVE INDUSTRY.

1232022-04-27
040a7d60

found the tranny!

lol2022-04-27
4641edf0

^ Freedom for me, not for thee...

ALLCAPS2022-04-27
34cbe890

REDDITORS, LIKE MOST ALL ONLINE COMMUNITIES, ARE KNOWN FOR BEING PARTICULARLY GULLIBLE AND EASILY SENT INTO A FRENZY. AS MANY REDDITORS ARE "PASSIVE CONTENT CONSUMERS" WHO ONLY READ THE TITLE AND THEN UPVOTE OR DOWNVOTE ACCORDINGLY, WITHOUT READING OR PARTICIPATING IN THE COMMENTS, MANY POSTS WITH EXTREMELY MISLEADING OR FALSE TITLES ARE UPVOTED TO THE FRONT PAGE OF REDDIT. IT IS COMMON TO SEE A HIGHLY UPVOTED ARTICLE ON THE FRONT PAGE, ONLY FOR THE TOP UPVOTED COMMENT IN THE THREAD TO PROVIDE A DETAILED DEBUNKING OF THE ARTICLE'S CLAIMS. Its like the internet is a series of tubes, and when those tubes are filled... they get filled you see... the internet is not a big truck. You cannot simply dump on the internet? INTERNET!

Master2022-04-27
3a21aa40

Lmao information must be free. Russia n morty Korea are hacking lots of blockchains

DownWithUSA2022-04-27
e9766cb0

The USA make a ton of HooHaa about political prisoners in Russia, but the fuckers do the same thing. Fuck you USA. Go and fucking shoot all your children in school with your great guns like you are now... (END RANT). As you can see, I may have over reacted. But seriously, fuck the USA, they are the same.

bigblackcock2022-04-27
82b10000

^ Communist sympathizing eurotrash right here

some12022-04-27
1686e980

Why are the comments here always so political? Are this really bots? I can't imagine anyone genuinely posting something about ukraine or china underneath a post like this...

youremomgay2022-04-27
ecce6c80

its probably for the same reason people on 4chan spout racist and transphobic shit every 2 sentences. lack of any basic human principles or respect for themselves or anyone else, and a desperate need to be some kind of edgelord.

78fdca098d09asd82022-04-27
a5983350

Ten movies streaming across that, that Internet, and what happens to your own personal Internet? I just the other day got... an Internet [email] was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday. I got it yesterday [Tuesday]. Why? Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the Internet commercially. [...] They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the Internet. And again, the Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes. And if you don't understand, those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it's going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material. Cuck.

Stink2022-04-27
a7b84240

Shadowserver dot org provides CSIRTs and law enforcement agencies around the world with the insights and capabilities required to conduct effective local, regional, or international security investigations. These partners trust us to provide relevant information, equip them to interpret it effectively, work discreetly in sensitive situations, and help them acquire the evidence to build a successful case. I also caught Monopoly for similar reasons of why DNL is a PUNK ASS NIGGA BITCH WHATS GOOD NIGGGA? WHATS REALLLLL GOOD?!?!?!

IdiotsEverywhere2022-04-27
fbf739a0

I'm all for freedom of speech, but when idiots get on here and spew nothing but racist and/or idiotic garbage that doesn't pertain to the article they deserve to have their messages deleted. It serves no purpose and stops people from seeing legitimate replies about the post at hand. If you need a moderator, I'll do it for free. @DNL

alias2022-04-28
da784c10

"only in some insane ideological world does open discussion include spam, attempts to shut down discussion, state-sponsored ops," Wait, isn't your site exactly that? A state-sponsored op.

asfgetgr2022-04-28
a23e54c0

Freedom of speech = going to another country without freedom of speech to provide their authoritarian government technical expertise and guidance on avoiding sanctions for the purpose of facilitating their extended totalitarian rule of enforced poverty upon its citizenry. Any attempt to prevent this from occurring is fascist overreach by evil Western governments.

LAOWL2022-04-28
130395b0

Oh look we have yet another fascist pig. What else can be expected in a shithole created by the US navy? After all, this is the honeypot network or the tor network.

ethbrsth462022-04-29
b56fe790

REEEEEEEE, autist detected, deploying anti-aspie spray with added cryptobro repellent. *RREEEEE intensifies before trailing off with wheezes and gurgling noises*

Halleluyah2022-05-26
8e3ec4e0

Geez, someone still reasoning overseas. I was well aware of your bellies overgrowing even hospital doors, but never heard of your brains doing the same. You must be an exeption, glad to read you. ;)

WastingTime2022-05-26
d5916510

First I believed that the old good habit not to write in capital letters was still a good idea, but as far as I can see some people still believes shouting gives them the upper hand. Second, I don't hurry, neither think anyone should, before taking the time and effort to study history (at least modern & contemporary), geo-politics and, if possible, talk to the people involved and go see with your own eyes what's being done and being doing before opening your mouths only to spit stinky Co2 out. And this, I mean, regarding whatever issue in whatever country, for whatever reason. I truly hate Sofa-Philosophy people. But what I hate the most are Sofa-Philosophy ignorants ranting BS without the capacity to look further than their own little garden. Their shitty little borough. Their country town or metropolis they live in. It would also be nice if you all realize that the world might speak english for a decent part but this doesn't mean we understand your ghettos dialects.