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Virgil Griffith, an Ethereum developer, was sentenced to five years in a US prison for violating North Korean Sanctions

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Ethereum Developer Virgil Griffith Sentenced to 5+ Years in US Prison for Violating North Korean Sanctions

Virgil Griffith, an Ethereum developer, was sentenced to five-years and three months in U.S. Prison after pleading guilty to a charge he incurred by speaking at a North Korean crypto conference. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), his presentation provided the Kim Jong Un regime with “technical advice on using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to evade sanctions.”

Ethereum Developer Virgil Griffith Going to Prison for Violating North Korean Sanctions

Virgil Griffith, an Ethereum developer, was sentenced to 63 months in prison Tuesday by U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan.

Griffith pleaded guilty in September last year to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The charge carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison. In a plea agreement, the prosecutors agreed not to seek more than six and half years in prison.

The Ethereum developer was arrested in November 2019 in Los Angeles. According to the DOJ, he is accused of violating the IEEPA by traveling to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or North Korea to give a presentation and technical advice about using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in order to evade sanctions.

The crypto enthusiast is currently in federal custody after his second arrest, when Judge Castel removed his bail. According to the federal judge, his cryptocurrency holdings had risen in value giving him the incentive to flee. He was reportedly arrested when logging into his Coinbase account.

Inner City Press quoted Judge Castel saying Tuesday that “some say Mr. Griffith is being persecuted because he promotes crypto. This is not the case. The day before trial, he pleaded guilty. He pleaded guilty the day before trial.

Virgil Griffith has no ideology. He will play both sides as long as he’s at the center. I sentence him to 63 months in prison and a fine of $100,000.

The ‘US vs. Virgil Griffith Court Case

The case followed Griffith’s visit to North Korea in order to attend the “Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference” or “the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference” in April 2019, the DOJ explained. The court document details:

Despite that the U.S. Department of State had denied Griffith permission to travel to the DPRK, Griffith presented at the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference, knowing that doing so violated sanctions against the DPRK.

The DOJ stated that Griffith, a U.S. citizen who lives in Singapore, did not obtain permission from U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to “provide goods, services or technology to DPRK .”

.”

The Department of Justice stated that “Griffith” and other attendees had discussed how the DPRK could utilize blockchain and cryptocurrency technology in order to launder money and avoid sanctions at the conference. There were approximately 100 other attendees.

What do you think about Virgil Griffith’s sentencing? Comment below.

Kevin Helms

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests include Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects, and the intersection of cryptography and economics.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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Ethereum

The Latest Ethereum Whale Activity: Should ETH Investors Worry?

Ethereum investors have shown some worrying trends as of late, with many prominent names, such as Galaxy Digital, disposing of substantial portions of their ETH holdings.

In this article, we will review the latest trends on the matter, including who is selling and who is buying.

The Sell-Offs

CryptoPotato has repeatedly reported in recent weeks the significant ETH sales completed by large investors, including whales and Galaxy Digital. The latter, in fact, has even started to replace its ether holdings with SOL, which could be an even more worrying trend.

These developments led to a price slump to $1,400 earlier this month. ETH managed to recover some of the losses and spiked to $1,800, which has only allowed some investors to cash out at more favorable prices.

According to data shared by Ali Martinez, whales have disposed of 262,000 ETH after the asset’s price started to recover. In USD terms, this stash is worth around $445 million.

Whales took advantage of the recent price surge, selling 262,000 #Ethereum $ETH, worth around $445 million. pic.twitter.com/sQ0PhAzyfX

— Ali (@ali_charts) April 29, 2025

Galaxy Digital has continued to deposit ETH to centralized exchanges, which is generally done with the obvious intention to sell. The latest batch to find its way to Coinbase was for 23,900 ETH (valued at $42.5 million), according to Lookonchain.

The same analytics tool provided an update about a whale that “can’t pick a side on ETH,” as they bought roughly 15,000 ETH at $1,801 and started selling just 3 hours later at a minor loss. Within the next 24 hours, the whale would have offloaded the entire stack.

This whale just sold all 10,511 $ETH($19.2M) at $1,828 again.https://t.co/bdIlDI9WrD pic.twitter.com/ZwP0JrxXTY

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) April 29, 2025

Some Are Buying, Though

Aside from the aforementioned bearish news, there are some reports claiming that Ethereum has turned itself around, which could be supported by a recent 10% spike in network activity. The ETH ETFs have also recorded several consecutive days of positive flows.

Additionally, Lookonchain reported that a wallet linked to Cumberland has withdrawn over $50 million worth of ether from Copper, Coinbase, and Binance within a short period. The team determined that “whales/institutions are accumulating ETH” following this post.

It seems that whales/institutions are accumulating $ETH!

Over the past 3 hours, a wallet linked to #Cumberland has withdrawn 27,632 $ETH($50.24M) from #Copper, #Binance, and #Coinbase.https://t.co/2CNtRUpICk pic.twitter.com/FK0A68w1vT

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) April 29, 2025

More good news for ETH came from BlackRock, as the world’s largest asset manager plans to tokenize its $150 billion Treasury Trust market fund on Ethereum.

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Ethereum

Big Win For Ethereum as BlackRock Tokenizes $150B Treasury Fund

“Ethereum just scored a monster win,” said former Ethereum developer Eric Connor on X on April 30.

His comment came in reaction to an April 28 prospectus filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission by BlackRock, which aims to tokenize its $150 billion Treasury Trust market fund with a new “DLT Shares” asset class.

It is the “biggest real-world asset flow to Ethereum yet,” said Connor.

Ethereum just scored a monster win.

BlackRock filed to tokenize its $150bn Treasury Trust money-market fund with a new “DLT Shares” class.

BNY Mellon will keep a blockchain mirror of every share on-chain.

Biggest real-world asset flow to Ethereum yet.

— Eric Conner (@econoar) April 30, 2025

Ethereum Industry Standard for RWA

The BlackRock Treasury Trust Fund is a money market fund that invests only in short-term US Treasury securities to provide income while preserving liquidity and principal. It keeps fees low and is designed for very low-risk, stable returns.

The new tokenized DLT shares of its $150 billion Treasury Trust Fund will use blockchain technology to track ownership via BNY Mellon.

BlackRock previously launched the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) on the Ethereum blockchain, in partnership with Securitize. It allows qualified investors to earn yields through tokenized US Treasury securities on Ethereum.

Onchain Foundation head of research Leon Waidmann reported that 93% of BlackRock’s BUIDL is on Ethereum. The fund currently has $2.34 billion in assets under management on Ethereum, according to rwa.xyz.

“Institutions follow deep liquidity, credible neutrality, and battle-tested security,” he said before adding, “ETH is already their settlement layer.”

“BlackRock is building on Ethereum. They’re betting on ETH as the leading ecosystem,” said researcher “CryptoGoos,” who added that Ethereum is “extremely undervalued.”

BlackRock is building on Ethereum.

They’re betting on $ETH as the leading eco-system.

Don’t get fooled now.

Ethereum is extremely undervalued. pic.twitter.com/dubhrzqxk4

— CryptoGoos (@crypto_goos) April 29, 2025

The firm does appear to be going all-in on tokenization. “Tokenization will revolutionize investing,” BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in March.

“Markets wouldn’t need to close. Transactions that currently take days would clear in seconds. And billions of dollars currently immobilized by settlement delays could be reinvested immediately back into the economy, generating more growth,” he added.

Ethereum is currently the industry standard for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization with a 56% market dominance and $6.2 billion tokenized on-chain (excluding stablecoins), according to rwa.xyz.

No Love For ETH Prices

ETH prices remain at bear market lows despite the bullish fundamentals. The asset has struggled to make any progress above $1,800 over the past week and is still lingering around levels last seen in September 2023.

ETH is still 63% down from its 2021 peak price and has declined almost 50% since the beginning of the year, but analysts and advocates still think it will reach five figures soon.

Nevertheless, institutions appear to be warming to cut-price Ether as BlackRock’s spot ETH ETF (ETHA) has scooped up $162 million worth of the asset over the past four trading days.

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Ethereum

Grayscale Pushes SEC to Approve Ethereum ETF Staking, Citing $61M Lost in Rewards

Grayscale is urging the SEC to approve staking for Ethereum ETFs, unlocking millions in rewards, strengthening Ethereum’s network, and propelling U.S. crypto investment forward. Grayscale Urges SEC to Allow Staking for Ethereum ETFs, Citing Major Investor Gains Representatives from Grayscale Investments convened with members of the U.S…
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