Ethereum researcher Virgil Griffith was released from prison custody on April 9, the Bureau of Prison (BOP) officials confirmed to Cointelegraph.
According to crypto developer Brantly Millegan, Griffith will remain in a halfway house for several weeks while waiting to complete the next steps in his parole process.
Griffith was arrested in 2019 for giving a lecture about blockchain technology and its power to circumvent US sanctions to an audience in North Korea.
Virgil Griffith pictured in the center with his parents immediately following his release from prison custody on April 9. Source: Brantly Millegan
The US government claimed the researcher violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by giving North Korea “highly technical information” despite the content of the lecture being widely available knowledge published on the internet.
Griffith’s case highlights the tension between blockchain developers and state powers as the nascent technology continues to create avenues for individuals and countries to escape financial controls, censorship, and surveillance.
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Virgil Griffith’s legal battle against US prosecutors
In January 2020, a US grand jury indicted Griffith with conspiracy to violate the IEEPA, which gives the Executive Branch of government the power to restrict economic activity between US citizens and foreign powers deemed to be adversarial to the United States.
Griffith initially pleaded not guilty to the charges. The software developer’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case in October 2020, arguing that Griffith did not violate the law by presenting what was already widely available public knowledge.
Griffith on a crypto-focused lecture in 2019 to a North Korean audience. Source: Cointelegraph/United States Department of Justice.
Following a lengthy legal battle, which took nearly two years, Griffith pleaded guilty to violating sanctions laws as part of a plea deal with the US government in September 2021.
The Ethereum researcher was sentenced to 63 months in prison and ordered to pay a $100,000 fine by the court in April 2022. However, the legal battle did not end there.
Two years later, in April 2024, the researcher’s attorneys submitted a motion to reduce the prison sentence, which US prosecutors opposed, citing Griffith’s actions as harmful to national security.
Despite the pushback from the prosecutors, New York Judge Kevin Castel issued a ruling in July 2024 reducing Griffth’s prison sentence to 56 months.
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