Ethereum Developer Sentenced to 63 Months for Helping North Korea

• Virgil Griffith was sentenced to 63 months in prison for helping North Korea bypass sanctions.
• He is also obligedpay a fine of $100,000.
• The defense wanted to soften the charge, but the judge was against it, citing sanctions against Russia.

Former Ethereum developer VirgilGriffith was sentenced to 63 months in prison for helping the North Koreans use cryptocurrency to evade sanctions. He is also required to pay a fine of $100,000.

In September, Griffith pleaded guilty toOne of the charges is conspiracy to violate international sanctions against North Korea. Griffith was arrested in November 2019. The occasion was his speech at a conference on cryptocurrencies in Pyongyang, which took place in April of the same year.

Punishment for such a crimein the form of imprisonment for 20 years, but Griffith's deal with federal prosecutors, in which he pleaded guilty, reduced the sentence. Griffith has already spent nearly two years in custody, although he has been out on bail for 14 months of that. The court will count the remaining 10 months as time served.

“I learned my lesson. I am still deeply annoyed that I am here and that I have done ", Griffith said in court.

The defense asked to mitigate the punishmentGriffith, citing the poor conditions of detention of the former Ethereum developer and his remorse. However, the judge and the prosecution were against it. They noted the ongoing «special operation» in Ukraine, as well as the US Government's use of sanctions against Russia. They said the sentence should be severe to discourage Griffith and other “similarly situated” people from even thinking about violating US sanctions laws.

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Rating of cryptocurrency exchanges:

#	Exchange:	Website:	Rating:
1	Binance (Editor's Choice)	https://binance.com	9.7
2	Huobi	https://huobi.com	7.4
3	AAX	https://aax.com	7.2
4	Exmo	https://exmo.me	6.9
5	Bybit	https://bybit.com	6.3

The criteria by which the rating is set in our rating of crypto-exchanges:

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