Ethereum Developer arrested in US for teaching North Korea how to launder money

[tsaroz]

Ethereum research scientist Virgil Griffith allegedly went all the way to Pyongyang to teach North Korean scientist and hackers how to launder and receive money that they earn by ransoming and hacking around the world. He taught them how to effectively use Ethereum without being found.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-authorities-arrest-ethereum-research-200109230.html

[1714847265]

1714847265

[hatshepsut93]

How stupid this guy can be? First he publicly goes to visit a hostile country with intention of providing them aid, then he goes to the US despite the warning that he will likely be arrested. Maybe he thinks he can use blockchain technology to avoid centralized prisons, lol?

And good luck to North Korea trying to bypass sanctions with crypto - they will need it, because chain analysis is really powerful and can deanonymize large coin movements, so just because you can buy weed and not get caught, doesn't mean the same applies to whole countries.

[CjMapope]

Ethereum research scientist Virgil Griffith allegedly went all the way to Pyongyang to teach North Korean scientist and hackers how to launder and receive money that they earn by ransoming and hacking around the world. He taught them how to effectively use Ethereum without being found.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-authorities-arrest-ethereum-research-200109230.html

wow, what else to say? good for him.  People like tht give crypto a bad name, he deserves what he gets for a sentence imo
i was talking to a guy a few days ago that was complaining he works too hard makes too little, even tho hes a professional
but when i mentioned taking back his financial freedom with Bitcoin he right away thought i mean't "tax evasion".  so sad.  let him slave i guess
People need crypto, but people that make it associated with crime can just fuk off haha, we have tried too hard to show BTC is just a tool, how its used is up to humans

[johnwest]

Ethereum research scientist Virgil Griffith allegedly went all the way to Pyongyang to teach North Korean scientist and hackers how to launder and receive money that they earn by ransoming and hacking around the world. He taught them how to effectively use Ethereum without being found.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-authorities-arrest-ethereum-research-200109230.html

wow, what else to say? good for him.  People like tht give crypto a bad name, he deserves what he gets for a sentence imo
i was talking to a guy a few days ago that was complaining he works too hard makes too little, even tho hes a professional
but when i mentioned taking back his financial freedom with Bitcoin he right away thought i mean't "tax evasion".  so sad.  let him slave i guess
People need crypto, but people that make it associated with crime can just fuk off haha, we have tried too hard to show BTC is just a tool, how its used is up to humans

Felt that "tax evasion" argument allot of time. One guy even suggested me back that "Dont cheat the government, bro"    I didnt know what to tell him.

I feel the guy deserves the sentence which will given to him. Even after knowing what North Korean Regime do to people, he thought he will be rich by doing this. I dont know what these people think of themselves. End result is bad publicity for crypto.

[NoirSuccubus]

How stupid is this guy? What is wrong with him? If that is what the truth accuses him of, I hope that he will be given a maximum prison term of strict. How much money did he earn from this and why did he do it?

[disconnectme]

Can I say careless or he push his luck to far, I have read one or two thread on this issue and was I saw was that he seem fascinated about North Korea which to me is crazy. He is one of those guy that found money and freedom and think they are free so they can do anything they love to.

[Febo]

..., then he goes to the US despite the warning that he will likely be arrested.

When I googled him it says he is from Alabama. That was USA last time I checked. He spent most of his life there, but not the recent years?

How stupid is this guy? What is wrong with him? If that is what the truth accuses him of, I hope that he will be given a maximum prison term of strict. How much money did he earn from this and why did he do it?

He paid $3300 to enrol on the conference. You can attend this year, but you are a bit to late, all available places are already taken: https://korea-dpr.info/dprk-blockchain-conference-2019.htmlv

[oktana]

when I first read the article, Virgil Griffith seemed to be right because he only attended conferences and explained the use of bitcoin-blockchain on a global scale.

But after reading the prosecution's indictment, it is true that they included the indictment as a conspirator / facilitator. he should have understood and been careful from the start that it would enter a tight geo-political space of sovereignty, and would face serious risks.

[CleverOracle]

Good job for FBI to arrest this man since he is not needed in crypto sphere because he is just like a virus that create a dirty image for cryptocurrency. maybe they can add another 20 years for his sentence so this guy will never leave the prison until he dies.

[jossiel]

We couldn't get more information about the conference held on Pyongyang because we know on how isolate the place was. But he was found out to denied from the very start going there so there's already a violation before landing on the country.

[X-ray]

A proof that greed could amplify stupidity. Teaching all these north korean to launder money from ransom for measly reward. imagine in the future how much people will become the victim of ransom after he taught them how to launder money which is pretty stupid. last time I recall the ransom outbreak causes even hospital's data to be locked down and now this. NK could just force their people who have access to internet to spam ransom and will causes outbreak again. just can't understand people like this.

[Baofeng]

Ethereum research scientist Virgil Griffith allegedly went all the way to Pyongyang to teach North Korean scientist and hackers how to launder and receive money that they earn by ransoming and hacking around the world. He taught them how to effectively use Ethereum without being found.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-authorities-arrest-ethereum-research-200109230.html

I already open up a thread about this issue on the Legal boards:

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Arrest Of United States Citizen For Assisting North Korea In Evading Sanctions.

The question is how they really know that Virgil is really teaching North Koreans the technology on how to evade the sanctions using Ethereum though? Do they have mole inside North Korea?

[shinratensei_]

Ethereum research scientist Virgil Griffith allegedly went all the way to Pyongyang to teach North Korean scientist and hackers how to launder and receive money that they earn by ransoming and hacking around the world. He taught them how to effectively use Ethereum without being found.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-authorities-arrest-ethereum-research-200109230.html

that guy is so stupid. How he was telling a communist country about how to do that when he was coming from the country that was contradicting with north korea. if i was him and i will never try to do that stupid i have ever seen in my life.
He was indirectly supporting the north korea to do a money laundering.
There will be more and more viruses and hackers come from there as per that education will give more knowledge about how to laundering the money easily through use anonymity feature "i assume the instant swap between ether and zcash".
what he was saying to promote the next update in ethereum because fully zksnark implementation will be starting from the next update "istanbul".
But he was risking his life for a crap statement that can bring him to the 20 years jailed sanction.

[btc_angela]

Too bad for this guy, if even he is indicted and found guilty then say goodbye to his crypto dreams. We really don't know what this guy is thinking and I agree that this is a bitch move to help DPKR to circumvent sanctions using crypto here. Helping rouge nation? it shouldn't be done here by anyone specially if you are a crypto enthusiast or at least knowledgable as Virgil is.

[Aabcde]

Maybe the payment he received from the meeting was bigger than his brain lol
Personally, if I understood and expert like him, I would not do such a thing. It's better to use it for personal use or for research that results in real success.
Is this issue a major blow to eth? or is it just considered trash and does not affect anything on eth? 
Hopefully, people like Virgil and others will soon be swallowed up in prison.

[DosManos]

Ethereum research scientist Virgil Griffith allegedly went all the way to Pyongyang to teach North Korean scientist and hackers how to launder and receive money that they earn by ransoming and hacking around the world. He taught them how to effectively use Ethereum without being found.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-authorities-arrest-ethereum-research-200109230.html

haha i heard the story but didnt understand it that way
this guy has balls
or stupid i dont know
i wonder what will happen to him :/

[leowonderful]

haha i heard the story but didnt understand it that way
this guy has balls
or stupid i dont know
i wonder what will happen to him :/

Definitely the latter; the U.S doesn't play around with issues like this especially involving money laundering, evading sanctions and North Korea, and he's probably going to prison for doing so. No idea if he's going to get the maximum sentence or anything, but still a dumb decision nevertheless.

I've also found a separate article from Forbes that seems to go more in-depth on the issue (click for direct link). One of the quotes from here mentions that Griffith was told not to go but went anyways. Yikes.

[tbone777]

USA gov really think that North Korea need somebody to teach them how to use crypto? They are using it for a very long time already

[llecrf]

It is unfortunate, but after I read the article, "US authorities alleged that at the conference, Griffith and other participants "discussed how DPRK [North Korea] could use blockchain and cryptocurrency technology to launder money and avoid sanctions." and I think we can continue to monitor further information from articles and information from other media.

[binhvo1505]

Ethereum research scientist Virgil Griffith allegedly went all the way to Pyongyang to teach North Korean scientist and hackers how to launder and receive money that they earn by ransoming and hacking around the world. He taught them how to effectively use Ethereum without being found.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-authorities-arrest-ethereum-research-200109230.html

This is really very bad news and this will greatly affect ethereum in the future. We should know that the US government is the most powerful organization in the world and they hate anyone who stands in their way and even harms them. I think in the future they will pay more attention to ethereum and will teach this business a lesson.