The FBI arrested the developers of the Ethereum Foundation
The FBI has taken the developers of the Ethereum Foundation, because he have reportedly travelled to North Korea and sensitive Knowledge about the Blockchain technology and crypto-currencies has given. Of which North Korea is supposed to benefit, in order to circumvent the United States imposed sanctions effectively.
The FBI arrested today at Los Angeles International Airport to the Director for special projects in the Ethereum Foundation, and claimed that he had supported the North Korean Regime in the development of the workaround for US sanctions by using the Ethereum block Chain. Investigators from the lead that Virgil Griffith revealed during a trip to North Korea at the beginning of the year, “highly technical information to North Korea, because they knew that this information could be used to help North Korea to launder money and evade sanctions”.
He did this allegedly endangered Griffith, the sanctions imposed by both the Congress and the President, to the maximum pressure on North Korea to exercise dangerous Regime,
US Secretary of state Geoffrey S. Berman said in a statement. He journey in North Korea, although he should previously have a lot of warnings. Griffith, the U.S. government opposes, and in February at the Pyongyang Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Conference have participated. The indictment runs (freely translated):
Although Griffith did not receive warnings, to go, he traveled allegedly to be one of the main opponents of the United States, North Korea, where he taught his audience how to use the Blockchain technology, in order to circumvent sanctions.
There, North Korean officials discussed the prospect of a sovereign digital currency as well as a possibility to use Ethereum “Smart Contracts” for the development of an extra-judicial court system.
We can not allow someone to withdraw the sanctions, to promote, because the consequences, if North Korea receives financial, technological and informational resources to its desire to build nuclear weapons, the world is endanger,
William F. Sweeney, Jr., describes., Deputy Director of the FBI. Wills Bentley de Vogeleare, a friend of Griffith, said that he believed that the authorities will overreact. Griffith, he said,
was not there to teach you how you can avoid sanctions, but to inform you of the Ethereum to, as he has done in many similar conferences around the world.
Griffith is still charged today in Federal court. In the case of a conviction, the Offence is punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years. Even if the evidence seems to be the situation in this case, for the time being opaque, these developments demonstrate that each country wants to protect Knowledge with each of the available Power. The race to be the leading Nation in the area of the Blockchain and Fintech technology between China and the USA in the next round. Bitoin-COP Mike Novogratz recently stated that the United States could lose its pioneering role in China if the regulatory authorities would not achieve soon great progress (freely translated):
If the US regulatory authorities with Fintech allow for innovations that will take the Chinese for our lunch. XI’s comments on Friday were significant. Crypto and the Blockchain will be in the future part of the financial and consumer infrastructure.
Featured Image: Wit Olszweski | Shutterstock
