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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

#311

Post by boomboomsubban »

AlexCoventry wrote: post #243
chrisco255 wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol what if by spreading crypto knowledge in totalitarian states, you give people in those states a viable way to preserve their income and assets in a way that no other asset class can? Imagine someone trying to protest or escape a regime imposing capital controls on citizens such as North Korea or Canada. What if, those citizens could simply memorize or encode a 12-24 word phrase that could preserve their net worth…

That's not the case with North Korea. Most people don't have access to computers, let alone the internet, so they can't use crypto for their personal finances.

Really? Most households have a cell phone, though internet access is spotty.

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

#312

Post by DavidVoid »

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…

Yeah, it doesn't exactly seem like a William Worthy[1] type of scenario.

If you actively aid a country in avoiding financial sanctions† then you pretty much only have yourself to blame when you eventually get thrown in prison for a few years.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Worthy#Right_to_travel...

†: Medical and food sanctions are a different question imo.

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

#314

Post by dahdum »

tomatowurst wrote: post #257
tomphoolery wrote: post #103

He should be in jail for longer. What a traitor.

I'm no lawyer but I can only dream that they might find more stuff to throw the book at him but somehow i doubt this. How you go and help a country that your own country is at war with, starves women and children, sends a prisoner's entire family to prison camps for three generations where do all sorts of horrible things and spend only 5 years in prison. People have been sent to prison far longer just because they ha…

The sanctions are intended to exacerbate the destitution and starvation in North Korea in order to provoke political upheaval. They are also just the current strategy, and have been ineffective from a humanitarian perspective.

I wouldn’t undermine them personally, but I understand how a rational person could come to believe it was even a moral obligation to do so.

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

#316

Post by hayd »

ipaddr wrote: post #279
tomatowurst wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no lawyer but I can only dream that they might find more stuff to throw the book at him but somehow i doubt this. How you go and help a country that your own country is at war with, starves women and children, sends a prisoner's entire family to prison camps for three generations where do all sorts of horrible things and spend only 5 years in prison. People have been sent to prison far longer just because they ha…

The santions are resposible for starving women/children. Should he be in prison for helping children eat?

> The santions [sic] are resposible [sic] for starving women/children.

This is a lie, and if you think NK leadership is going to be spending crypto on food for their populace you're deluded.

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

#317

Post by m3kw9 »

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…

“ I don’t see how this benefits society in any way.” The law breaks down when you start giving exceptions to the law arbitrarily

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

#318

Post by kyleplum »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #308
kyleplum wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Cuba refused to trade with anyone who traded with the US, would you say that Cuba is violating the national autonomy of the US?

Yes, however the severity of the violation is dependent on the influence of the violator. Cuba's violation would be wrong but mostly meaningless compared to the US's.

Would it not be a violation of Cuba's National Autonomy to force them to trade with partner's that they did not wish to trade with?

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

#319

Post by thomastjeffery »

jaywalk wrote: post #176
xtracto wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

In order for crypto to exist, it has to be on the global Blockchain. There is no isolation via firewall possible.

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

#320

Post by lawn »

ethbr0 wrote: post #68
spamizbad wrote: post #15

Not 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…

You can be pro encryption, but acknowledge that it makes tracking child porn harder is an unwanted side effect, without aiding the child porn creators.

So you can be pro decentralized financial systems without actively helping totalitarian governments to use them.

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