Ethereum developer and early contributor Virgil Griffith has been granted early release from prison after serving nearly five years for violating U.S. sanctions on North Korea.
A contentious journey to North Korea, during which Griffith, then 41 years old, delivered a presentation at a Bitcoin conference in Pyongyang, led to his detention in 2019.
He gave a seminar with the title “Blockchain for Peace,” in which he allegedly discussed how the United States might utilize cryptocurrency to circumvent sanctions and launder money.
Griffith entered a guilty plea in 2021 to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. In 2022, he was required to serve 63 months in jail and pay a fine of $100,000.
Considering Griffith’s lack of prior criminal history as well as the difficulties he faced while there, United States District Judge Kevin Castel lowered his sentence to 56 months on July 16, with the revocation taking effect on August 2.
Virgil Griffith’s ‘curiosity’
Although Griffith has committed disciplinary offenses while incarcerated, the judge has observed that the danger he poses to the general public has “somewhat diminished.” Long ago, Griffith’s legal team contended that his presentation contained information that was already available to the public and that he was more motivated by scholarly curiosity than by any intention to commit a crime.
According to the words of one attorney, the trip was the “culmination of Virgil’s unfortunate obsession with North Korea.”Griffith was a well-respected individual in the early stages of Ethereum’s development and a significant contributor to the Ethereum Name Service.
As a result, his case garnered interest from enthusiasts of cryptocurrency as well as circles concerned with national security. His release comes at a time when hacker groups with ties to North Korea, such as Lazarus, continue to attack cryptocurrency companies, stealing billions of dollars’ worth of digital assets over the course of the last decade.
Currently, Griffith is being imprisoned in a federal prison in the state of Michigan, and it is anticipated that he will be released shortly after the order that was issued on August 2 goes into effect.
