Here's a NY Times from the time of the arrest which has many relevant details:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/02/nyregion/north-korea-virg...
US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
191–200 of 587 posts
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
At the moment that is still legal. The German government may decide to change that in the future.
>At the moment that is still legal. Is the discussion on what is legal or on what is moral to legally enforce? I had read the parent discussion as being the latter.
Both. But if an action is both immoral and still legal, it is then wrong to jail people for it. Fix the law to match the morality.
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#193According 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…
Yep starts on page 6 - sure DPRK I'll do this crime for you so that you can blackmail me into further service for the rest of my life.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1222646...
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#194Not surprised: it seems a common theme with crypto evangelists is the application of the blockchain to avoid sanctions. I don't think its deeply ideological (as in anti-America/Pro-NK) - it's more like they view US financial hegemony as a "competitor" to blockchain technology and a hinderance to global cryptocurrency adoption. Why he would throw his life away like this seems silly. I don't see the point in taking pay…
It's the ultimate place any honest monetary cipherpunk ends up at. Either you have government controlled financial systems, or you have decentralized financial systems. Getting to any middleground is pretty tortured, both technically and morally. Sort of like "Strong encryption permits a world in which child pornography cannot be tracked" with respect to encryption. It's ugly, but true. (Said as someone who doesn't c…
> Either you have government controlled financial systems, or you have decentralized financial systems.
Some parties control the latter; don't be fooled. The question is, who?
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
The USA has a similar incarceration rate to North Korea, albeit with better conditions.
Nonetheless two wrongs don't make a right.
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
He was helping the worst dictator on Earth increase his power even more. Right now there are sanctions against Russia, and some US companies are giving Bitcoin to Russians to help to escape the country, but the US government doesn’t make that illegal, because they are not helping Putin, but the refugees who got stuck in a horrible situation. Of course US can make sending Bitcoin to Russian people illegal at any time,…
> make sending Bitcoin to Russian people illegal Isn't it impossible? Bitcoins are being sent to random 256bits, not to people. Unless some Russian person reveals some adress and promises that he really owns the key, this kind of transaction may be hard to proove.
It's a public ledger, it's the worst way to make something illegal, many drug dealers found it out too late.
Just an example even if a person doesn't use an address, if a Russian person checks out a HD multisig public key from which other keys may be derived, the sender can get suspicious.
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#197No post body was provided.
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#198You almost have to wonder if there is more we don't know. I can't imagine anyone person being able to fundamentally alter NK's understanding of Blockchain. Laugh at that country, but there must be a few doctorate level brains that can watch proxied-Youtube. He knew what he was doing and he took a principled stand on sharing information with a very unsympathetic party. It would be like teaching mobsters how to clean a…
No, there isn't more, the US would certainly detail it in the indictment if there was. This is obviously a political prosecution against a guy they just didn't like hanging out with guys they don't, and lending those guys a certain legitimacy in the process. He provided NK with nothing of value, as you say, they certainly know about cryptocurrency and have been using it for quite some time now.
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#199Not surprised: it seems a common theme with crypto evangelists is the application of the blockchain to avoid sanctions. I don't think its deeply ideological (as in anti-America/Pro-NK) - it's more like they view US financial hegemony as a "competitor" to blockchain technology and a hinderance to global cryptocurrency adoption. Why he would throw his life away like this seems silly. I don't see the point in taking pay…
> I don't see the point in taking payment for a presentation
Maybe taking payment was the point!
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#200Earlier 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.
No news sources are entirely unbiased, even when they make an effort to be. Regardless, we know a lot from NK from multiple sources. The main reason we don't know more is because of how closed that dictatorship is.
Or how closed we are to them? There is no media unbiased about them in the west. But I do know you can travel to NK and see for yourself.
That said, it is easier to know things about Portugal than NK. They are definitely doing something to hide information. I'm just trying to say that any image based on the media from non friendly country is bound to be wrong. No matter how much different sources you have.