Former Ethereum employee jailed for talking at North Korea crypto conference about dodging sanctions

pcgamer.com:

Virgil Griffith, a former employee of the Ethereum Foundation, has been sentenced to more than five years in prison and fined $100,000, after pleading guilty to conspiring to violate US law: specifically, US International Emergency Economic Powers Act (thanks, BBC). The 39 year-old was accused of having «participated in discussions regarding using cryptocurrency technologies to evade sanctions and launder money» with the North Korean authorities, per the charge sheet, and had he not cut a plea deal could have faced up to 20 years inside and $1 million in fines.

Griffith had travelled to North Korea's capital city Pyongyang in April 2019 to give a presentation on blockchain tech at a crypto conference—despite applying for and being denied permission by the US State Department to attend. Prosecutors said that Griffith understood how crypto could be used to evade US sanctions on North Korea, «participated in discussions regarding using cryptocurrency technologies to evade sanctions and launder money,» and quoted parts of Griffith's presentation:

«The most important feature of blockchains is that they are open. And the DPRK can't be kept out no matter what the USA or the UN says.»

The Ethereum Foundation said it did not approve of or support Griffith's visit to Pyongyang. What exactly the Ethereum Foundation does is a bit of a knotty one: it's a Swiss non-profit organisation dedicated to the underlying Ethereum tech, founded by the same people, which «promotes and manages Ethereum.» So it doesn't 'own' Ethereum but is inextricable from it.

Seven months after the conference, Griffith was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport.

Still Day 2. They took us to a museum and proudly showed us exhibits of how they once