Topic: Cryptocurrency Expert Charged With Aiding North Korea - page 2. (Read 340 times)
He’s lucky that North Korea let him out of the country. He could easily have been volunteered to stay and help them out forever.
Launder money? I'm not sure how helping another country launder money is a crime against the US--but I'm not a lawyer and certainly not a lawmaker. Very weird (to me). The "evading sanctions" part of it I get.
The US always has to have a big bad enemy to vilify. Always. And the propaganda used to convince the citizenry has gotten sneakier, more insidious. It used to be that propaganda was obvious back in the WWII days, where you'd have cartoon representations of Hitler and the Japanese, but these days it might be a Youtube video showing N. Korean soldiers and their hopping goose steps or some such thing and it makes me wonder if the US government somehow has a hand in such negative representations.
Anyway, this will probably be perceived as another black mark against crypto, like its association with Silk Road or funding terrorists and that sort of thing. Makes me want to pull out my hair.
The US always has to have a big bad enemy to vilify. Always. And the propaganda used to convince the citizenry has gotten sneakier, more insidious. It used to be that propaganda was obvious back in the WWII days, where you'd have cartoon representations of Hitler and the Japanese, but these days it might be a Youtube video showing N. Korean soldiers and their hopping goose steps or some such thing and it makes me wonder if the US government somehow has a hand in such negative representations.
Anyway, this will probably be perceived as another black mark against crypto, like its association with Silk Road or funding terrorists and that sort of thing. Makes me want to pull out my hair.
I guess it would totally work for the dictators as well and I never really imagined it before. These guys could actually buy anything they want and also sell anything they want using the blockchain technology and the darknet territories. I mean there are people who kill others for money in darknets, mercenaries or whatever they are called, you think it would be impossible for North Korea to sell guns they get from China and Russia on darknet to gain more economical power?
In return they could use that bitcoin to buy stuff they need like food or resources they could help the people or at least the government itself. Long story short bitcoin is decentralized and it is great for public who hates their governments but unfortunately it is also great for governments who hate their public too.
In return they could use that bitcoin to buy stuff they need like food or resources they could help the people or at least the government itself. Long story short bitcoin is decentralized and it is great for public who hates their governments but unfortunately it is also great for governments who hate their public too.
Maybe you should read further.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1201182901062307840.html?refreshed=yes
https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1200532461890854912
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/12/02/vitalik-buterin-ethereum-virgil-griffith-arrest-cryptocurrency-north-korea/
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/12/03/ethereum-developer-virgil-griffith-released-pending-trial-cryptocurrency/
Well, I kind of get the idea of why US would actually still arrest him despite the positive sessions he had with NK. It's kind of like, "Why are you allying yourself with the enemy" kind of thing, and I'd say it attacked the pride of the US. I looked up a bit myself and he truly had some worthwhile seminars and sessions that fully discussed the basics of crypto, but only the BASICS. Guess the US is more of a control freak than I thought. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1201182901062307840.html?refreshed=yes
https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1200532461890854912
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/12/02/vitalik-buterin-ethereum-virgil-griffith-arrest-cryptocurrency-north-korea/
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/12/03/ethereum-developer-virgil-griffith-released-pending-trial-cryptocurrency/
Of course, what do you expect from them? They are going to protect themselves and their pride even specially if someone from US will help the perceived enemy in this case North Korea. The guy is a genius, however, it seems he did something wrong to the eye of US government. So let's see how everything will turn out because this will affect a lot of people behind crypto.
Maybe you should read further.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1201182901062307840.html?refreshed=yes
https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1200532461890854912
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/12/02/vitalik-buterin-ethereum-virgil-griffith-arrest-cryptocurrency-north-korea/
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/12/03/ethereum-developer-virgil-griffith-released-pending-trial-cryptocurrency/
Well, I kind of get the idea of why US would actually still arrest him despite the positive sessions he had with NK. It's kind of like, "Why are you allying yourself with the enemy" kind of thing, and I'd say it attacked the pride of the US. I looked up a bit myself and he truly had some worthwhile seminars and sessions that fully discussed the basics of crypto, but only the BASICS. Guess the US is more of a control freak than I thought. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1201182901062307840.html?refreshed=yes
https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1200532461890854912
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/12/02/vitalik-buterin-ethereum-virgil-griffith-arrest-cryptocurrency-north-korea/
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/12/03/ethereum-developer-virgil-griffith-released-pending-trial-cryptocurrency/
Maybe you should read further.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1201182901062307840.html?refreshed=yes
https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1200532461890854912
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/12/02/vitalik-buterin-ethereum-virgil-griffith-arrest-cryptocurrency-north-korea/
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/12/03/ethereum-developer-virgil-griffith-released-pending-trial-cryptocurrency/
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1201182901062307840.html?refreshed=yes
https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1200532461890854912
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/12/02/vitalik-buterin-ethereum-virgil-griffith-arrest-cryptocurrency-north-korea/
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/12/03/ethereum-developer-virgil-griffith-released-pending-trial-cryptocurrency/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-29/cryptocurrency-expert-charged-with-aiding-north-korea
I don't know what he was thinking. If they warned him in advance, and he still went to North Korea, then he's a prize idiot.
This kind of behaviour brings cryptocurrency into disrepute.
Quote
The U.S. arrested an Ethereum Foundation cryptocurrency scientist and charged him with helping North Korea use blockchain technology “to evade sanctions and launder money.”
Virgil Griffith, 36, was arrested Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport and charged with conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions against the regime of dictator Kim Jong-un, according to a statement from Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman. Griffith, a U.S. citizen who lives in Singapore, attended a blockchain and cryptocurrency conference in Pyongyang in April, despite specific State Department warnings.
“Griffith provided highly technical information to North Korea, knowing that this information could be used to help North Korea launder money and evade sanctions,” Berman said in a statement Friday. He “jeopardized the sanctions that both Congress and the president have enacted to place maximum pressure on North Korea’s dangerous regime.”
Griffith was the subject of a 2008 New York Times Magazine profile that described him as a “cult hacker” and dubbed him the “Internet Man of Mystery.“ He worked with programmer and activist Aaron Swartz to develop Tor2web, which allows dark-web sites to be viewed on a standard internet browser. On his Linkedin profile, Griffith, a California Institute of Technology Ph.D., says he moved to Singapore in 2015 because he “concluded the best place for new growth” is Asia.
He has tweeted about North Korea a number of times in the past year. On June 29, he opined that emerging multinational standards on cryptocurrency regulations would create “a market opportunity” for the isolated regime to launch an exchange. In August, he tweeted a picture of his visa to visit North Korea.
Though the charges were filed in New York, Griffith is scheduled to first appear in federal court in Los Angeles sometime Friday.
Virgil Griffith, 36, was arrested Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport and charged with conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions against the regime of dictator Kim Jong-un, according to a statement from Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman. Griffith, a U.S. citizen who lives in Singapore, attended a blockchain and cryptocurrency conference in Pyongyang in April, despite specific State Department warnings.
“Griffith provided highly technical information to North Korea, knowing that this information could be used to help North Korea launder money and evade sanctions,” Berman said in a statement Friday. He “jeopardized the sanctions that both Congress and the president have enacted to place maximum pressure on North Korea’s dangerous regime.”
Griffith was the subject of a 2008 New York Times Magazine profile that described him as a “cult hacker” and dubbed him the “Internet Man of Mystery.“ He worked with programmer and activist Aaron Swartz to develop Tor2web, which allows dark-web sites to be viewed on a standard internet browser. On his Linkedin profile, Griffith, a California Institute of Technology Ph.D., says he moved to Singapore in 2015 because he “concluded the best place for new growth” is Asia.
He has tweeted about North Korea a number of times in the past year. On June 29, he opined that emerging multinational standards on cryptocurrency regulations would create “a market opportunity” for the isolated regime to launch an exchange. In August, he tweeted a picture of his visa to visit North Korea.
Though the charges were filed in New York, Griffith is scheduled to first appear in federal court in Los Angeles sometime Friday.
I don't know what he was thinking. If they warned him in advance, and he still went to North Korea, then he's a prize idiot.
This kind of behaviour brings cryptocurrency into disrepute.
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