American Arrested for Presenting Crypto in DPRK
Virgil Griffith, an American citizen, allegedly flew to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). He did this to bring a presentation on the usage of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology to circumvent sanctions. After that, on November 30, the United States prosecutors announced that they had arrested him.
In addition to that, Griffith will receive a charge with conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). And these charges carry a peak term of 20 years in prison.
Furthermore, the IEEPA prohibits any American citizens from exporting goods, services, or technology to the DPRK. Moreover, if they want to, they must first get a license from the Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign assets Control.
Previously, Griffith, an American citizen living in Singapore, failed to get permission to travel from the U.S. Department of State. Also, he went against the decision and presented it at the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference. And this violated the U.S. sanctions against the DPRK.
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. stated, “There are deliberate reasons sanctions have been levied on North Korea.”
According to Sweeney, American citizen Griffith went to North Korea without permission from the federal government. He did that despite the knowledge of what he was doing was against the law.
Moreover, the FBI Director-in-Charge indicated that they could not let anyone get away from sanctions. And this is because the consequences of North Korea getting funding, technology, and information to meet its desire to build nuclear weapons put the world at risk. He said, “It’s even more egregious that a U.S. citizen allegedly chose to aid our adversary.”
Bitcoin on the Way Up?
Fortunately, Bitcoin (BTC) seems to recover from its lows. And it quickly gained over $1,300. With the use of the Bollinger Bands (BB) Indicator, it looks like the upcoming milestone to break would be the moving average. This recently lies at $8,000. Then from there, Bitcoin can now have the chance at the $9,000 low range.
