[News Figures] Ruling and Opposition Parties Clash Over 'North Korea Coin Project'... Who Is Virgil Griffith, the 'Ethereum' Developer?

Allegations of Opposition Figures Involved in North Korea Coin Business
Griffith Imprisoned for Violating North Korea Sanctions
Ethereum Foundation and Seoul City Mentioned in Email

North Korea entry visa issued to Virgil Crippis in 2019. [Image source= SNS screenshot]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] As suspicions arise that key opposition figures, including Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (then mayor of Seongnam), were involved in a North Korea-related cryptocurrency project using 'Ethereum' during the Moon Jae-in administration, attention is being drawn to the connections between Virgil Griffith, who participated in the currency development, and political figures.

Griffith is a co-developer of Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, and is currently serving a 63-month prison sentence in the United States for violating North Korea sanctions laws.

On the 11th, Yoon Sang-hyun, a member of the People Power Party, raised suspicions during a National Assembly audit of the Financial Supervisory Service held by the Political Affairs Committee, stating, "Virgil Griffith, the creator of the cryptocurrency Ethereum, presented overseas cryptocurrency remittance technology to evade North Korea sanctions at an event in Pyongyang in 2019," and added, "Griffith was in close contact with Park Won-soon, then mayor of Seoul, and Lee Jae-myung, then mayor of Seongnam, was also very interested."

Virgil Griffith, who co-developed the U.S. cryptocurrency Ethereum, attended a blockchain conference held in Pyongyang in 2019, where he introduced methods of using cryptocurrency to circumvent North Korea sanctions before being arrested by U.S. authorities.

His attorney requested a 24-month sentence, citing that Griffith suffers from obsessive personality disorder, but the federal court sentenced him to 63 months in prison, 3 years of probation, and a $100,000 fine. In the sentencing in April at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, it was stated that Griffith attended the cryptocurrency conference in Pyongyang and explained how to convert North Korean currency into cryptocurrency, demonstrating "a deliberate intent to violate North Korea sanctions."

The law applied to Griffith is the U.S. International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which prohibits the export of goods, services, or technology to terrorist-supporting countries such as North Korea.

The court denied Griffith's bail application, citing concerns that the value of the cryptocurrency he holds had surged, raising the risk of flight. Griffith has been detained in a federal detention center since July.

Born in 1983 in Birmingham, Alabama, Griffith entered the University of Alabama in 2003, majoring in cognitive science. He later worked as a visiting researcher at the Santa Fe Institute, which produced Nobel laureates in physics such as Murray Gell-Mann and Philip Anderson. In 2014, he received funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and earned a Ph.D. in computational neuroscience from the California Institute of Technology. Since 2016, he has worked as a research scientist at the Ethereum Foundation.

Griffith is also known for developing 'Tor2Web,' a web browser that can bypass networks and hide internet usage history. He referred to himself as a "mysterious internet man" or a "cult hacker."

After visiting Pyongyang in 2019, Griffith encouraged other American experts to attend North Korea's cryptocurrency conferences and showed a friendly attitude toward North Korea, including taking photos in front of a placard stating "Oppose (North Korea) sanctions." Through his social media, he emphasized that "if a cryptocurrency exchange is established in the isolated regime, new market opportunities will be created."

Meanwhile, according to materials disclosed by Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Ui-gyeom, Griffith is known to have exchanged emails with the CEO of a domestic cryptocurrency startup since 2018. The emails reportedly included information that the mayors of Seoul and Seongnam were attending a cryptocurrency event and that the Seoul city government was favorable toward establishing an Ethereum Foundation in North Korea.