Ethereum’s Virgil Griffith denied bail for North Korea blockchain charges
The Ethereum research scientist will thus likely spend a year behind bars between arrest and trial.
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The Ethereum research scientist Virgil Griffith, accused of teaching North Koreans how to use cryptocurrency to evade sanctions at a conference in that country, has been denied bail.
Griffith was initially granted bail, but the decision was stayed, then reversed completely the day after Christmas in New York.
At a bail hearing, the charges are largely immaterial. The judge considers mainly whether the accused will turn up at trial. According to Inner City Press, which was at the hearing, the judge said:
I am somewhat troubled by delay in disclosing Puerto Rico residence. His private communications to his parents about renouncing citizenship and serting up money laundering in hostile NK (sic).
Griffith will thus likely spend a year behind bars between arrest and trial.
I was there in North Korea. I’ve said I will say more about this — it’s still coming. Things just haven’t been moving as fast as hoped.
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The Chinese tech giant Tencent is said to be forming a team to research digital currencies. Tencent’s WeChat Pay is one of the largest payment processors in the world. A centrally controlled digital asset by Tencent would be a direct challenge to Facebook’s proposed Libra cryptocurrency.
Speaking of Libra, it is facing criticism from the president of Switzerland, where it is planning to be based. Note, however, the Swiss presidency is a procedural role, with little powers.
And speaking of hiring people to look into digital currencies, South Korea’s central bank is doing that as well.
Meanwhile, China cracks down on cryptocurrency — the sort it does not control — again.
YouTube has restored videos of crypto-related channels after removing them the past week, in a move it says was “in error” and that which did not reflect any change in policy.