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US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

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Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#171

Post by levi-turner »

danielvf wrote: post #71

According to the original complaint, a few months after being interviewed by an FBI agent on returning from his trip to North Korea, Griffith had the following conversation over text messages: Griffith: I need to send 1 [REDACTED UNIT OF CRYPTOCURRENCY] between North and South Korea. Other Guy: "Isn't that in violations of sanctions?" Griffith: It is. A few day later, also in text messages to someone else: Someone: W…

Source for those curious about this: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1222646...

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#172

Post by skrtskrt »

samhw wrote: post #133
RobertRoberts wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if the news about NK is not entirely unbiased? (I have no proof either way, just asking the question) Edit: People are taking my comment wrong. I am asking this because there are a lot of assumptions people have, I know almost nothing about NK, and the comment I replied to seemed somewhat irrational, a little reactionary and certainly vindictive.

There's a difference between "media companies may have conflicts of interest or ideological bents" and "every single proposition ever stated by a journalist is specifically false".

it is true that a lot of mainstream media outlets that people consider "probably biased but overall trustworthy" just regurgitate talking points from the State Department, law enforcement, etc as fact.

One only needs to read the CIA's Wikipedia page or the CIA's own website to understand how embarrassing of a failure of thought and journalism it is to trust these institutions

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#173

Post by mayankkaizen »

relativeadv wrote: post #145
qbasic_forever wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking forward to see how you'll imprison the German government for continuing to purchase oil from Russia through shell companies like Gazprombank.

lol, this comment is too much.

May be a bit extreme comment but not completely nonsensical. It is raising somewhat valid point.

Currently Russian regime is not that much different from NK regime. Both are under sanctions. In fact, Russia is more dangerous than NK in current situation. Germany needs fuel and it is essentially financing Russia. The only difference between NK and Russia is that nobody is dependent on NK for anything.

This guy helped NK and went to jail. Germany giving money to Russia (for fuel), it's all ok.

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#174

Post by s1artibartfast »

marcinzm wrote: post #169
forinti wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Sanctions against Cuba, Iran and NK have achieved very little. They might even be helping keep the status quo in those countries.

You're assuming the goal is some sort of democratic revolution rather than keeping the economies of those countries constrained so they have less money to spend on weapons.

Interesting implications for the case of Cuba. If so, their primary crime is being a country in close proximity to the USA. So much for arguments of respecting national autonomy.

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#175

Post by thereddaikon »

mtoner23 wrote: post #96
chatmasta wrote: post #48

I met Virgil at an academic workshop back in 2014. We went out in Amsterdam. He was a weird guy, to say the least (he’d probably be the first to agree). He was generally quite affable and obviously highly intelligent. He’s an idiot for this fiasco. But it’s also sad to see him in jail; I don’t see how this benefits society in any way. Five years in prison seems like a disproportionate punishment for an arguably victi…

Victimless? North korea is not a victimless country. There's a reason why they are sactioned. He clearly broke a big and important law and knew he was doing it. idk what else one would expect

Yeah I don't see how anyone could consider it victimless. By helping North Korea circumvent sanctions he indirectly has blood on his hands. This is a country that sentences multiple generations of a family to work camps.

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#176

Post by jaywalk »

xtracto wrote: post #159
danielvf wrote: post #71

According to the original complaint, a few months after being interviewed by an FBI agent on returning from his trip to North Korea, Griffith had the following conversation over text messages: Griffith: I need to send 1 [REDACTED UNIT OF CRYPTOCURRENCY] between North and South Korea. Other Guy: "Isn't that in violations of sanctions?" Griffith: It is. A few day later, also in text messages to someone else: Someone: W…

> I need to send 1 [REDACTED UNIT OF CRYPTOCURRENCY] between North and South Korea I find this fascinating. How can you send any crypto between one country and the other? In reality, everyone who is using crypto is doing the transaction in every country where a validator/node is running. There is no concept of "sending BTC between Mexico and the USA". There may be a concept of someone paying USD money to somebody els…

You're probably reading too deeply into it. Remember, North Korea is mostly firewalled off from the worldwide Internet, so that's most likely where the problem begins.

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#177

Post by arcticbull »

xtracto wrote: post #159
danielvf wrote: post #71

According to the original complaint, a few months after being interviewed by an FBI agent on returning from his trip to North Korea, Griffith had the following conversation over text messages: Griffith: I need to send 1 [REDACTED UNIT OF CRYPTOCURRENCY] between North and South Korea. Other Guy: "Isn't that in violations of sanctions?" Griffith: It is. A few day later, also in text messages to someone else: Someone: W…

> I need to send 1 [REDACTED UNIT OF CRYPTOCURRENCY] between North and South Korea I find this fascinating. How can you send any crypto between one country and the other? In reality, everyone who is using crypto is doing the transaction in every country where a validator/node is running. There is no concept of "sending BTC between Mexico and the USA". There may be a concept of someone paying USD money to somebody els…

You're sending cryptocurrency from a wallet belonging to an individual physically present in country A to one belonging to an individual physically present in country B. It's not so much where the wallet is, obviously, but where the people using it are.

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#178

Post by everfree »

garbagetime wrote: post #52
endisneigh wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. And once we finish with North Korea we should turn our eyes to the United States, the country that developed and currently only user of nuclear weapons in combat. No sympathy for users of nuclear weapons or any country who threatens its use!

The USA are the good guys so I'm happy they have their defensive nukes all around the world. Also, the one time when they used their nukes offensively that was actually to save lives.

> The USA are the good guys

That kind of reductionism doesn't really forward the discussion. The USA is a complex system of interconnected organizations run by constantly churning groups of people. It's a topic that needs to be approached with some level of nuance.

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#179

Post by dionidium »

Tech nerds (like myself) tend to think in terms of software and protocols. "If the server responds with a 200 OK to your request, then that means by definition that it gave you permission!" But this is a reminder that that's basically absurd. The government can actually just lock you up for violating the law and it doesn't matter what the stupid protocol says.

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#180

Post by ethbr0 »

Daishiman wrote: post #120
ethbr0 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. This feels like early-90s computer crime sentencing. Making it easy for someone to bludgeon you over the head with a legal charge is your own fault. But the net impact of the charge can also be useless.

If you were to advice a sanctioned country on how to launder money or evade currency controls you would also be penalized in the same manner.

Explaining how cryptocurrency works is itself advising a sanctioned country on how to launder money and evade currency controls.

Is Wikipedia liable?

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