Ethereum Foundation Researcher Indicted By US Grand Jury

On January 7 the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York indicted Ethereum (ETH) Foundation staff member Virgil Griffith. They occused the Ethereum researcher of conspiracy, which violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The act appeared in 1977 and, being a U.S federal law authorizes the president to regulate international commerce if an external threat to the country exists. Griffith is indicted for willful violation of sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Griffith was arrested in late November for allegedly delivering a presentation discussing “cryptocurrency technologies to evade sanctions and launder money.” Reportedly the Ethereum researcher had allies, at least one of which is expected to be brought to and arrested in the Southern District of New York. The document states:

“It was a part and an object of the conspiracy that Virgil Griffith, the defendant, and others known and unknown, would and did provide and cause others to provide services to the DPRK, without first obtaining the required approval. ”

The court also expects forfeiture of everything acquired by Griffith in the DPRK. The charges carry a maximum 20 years in prison.

Cryptocurrency community reacting to Virgil’s actions

In December Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, posted a series of tweets on the matter, stating that the main aim of Virgil’s trip was showing ”geopolitical open-mindedness”.

“I don’t think what Virgil did gave DPRK any kind of real help in doing anything bad. He delivered a presentation based on publicly available info about open-source software. There was no weird hackery ‘advanced tutoring.’ […] Virgil made no personal gain from the trip. […] I hope USA […] focuses on genuine and harmful corruption that it and all countries struggle with rather than going after programmers delivering speeches.” Vitalik says.

From the other hand, cryptocurrency journalist Laura Shin stated that Virgil could talk only to North Korean government, not to ordinary people, because it is not allowed:

“I see people saying a talk in NK could help the people against the government. But an approved public talk means you are interacting with the dictatorship, giving them knowledge that helps them. And what do they do? They oppress 25 million people and they’ve done so for decades. […] If you want to help everyday North Koreans, it has to be in secret.”

Shin also noted that ordinary DPRK citizens do not have any idea about the Internet, therefore information about blockchain will not be of any use for them.

“Let’s say Virgil could have educated everyday North Koreans on cryptocurrency. He would likely have to start such a presentation by explaining what the internet is. […] Owning the kind of device you would need to access it is prohibited and likely something that could get you sent you to a very scary place.”

Some believe, that cryptocurrencies are well-suited for evading sanctions and transfer money, avoiding attention of financial regulators. According to some reports, North Korea is developing its own cryptocurrency which will allow it to circumvent the U.S sanctions.

The same move was taken by Iran — in December 2019 its president proposed to establish Muslim cryptocurrency to challenge the U.S global domination.

It is also known that in February 2018 in order to evade the U.S sanctions Venezuela introduced its own cryptocurrency Petro, a stablecoin pegged to the country’s supplies of crude oil.



