Virgil Griffith, a previous Ethereum developer who was incarcerated for participating in a cryptocurrency conference in North Korea back in 2019, has been released from prison and is en route to a halfway house, as confirmed by his attorney, Alexander Urbelis.
Urbelis, who also serves as general counsel for the Ethereum Name Service and has been Griffith’s external counsel, shared a picture of Griffith along with his parents on X earlier this week, taken outside FCI Milan, the low-security prison in Michigan where he spent part of his 56-month sentence.
“I’m thrilled to announce that VIRGIL IS OUT!” Urbelis declared. “What a wonderful day.”
Arrested in November 2019, Griffith was detained seven months after returning from Pyongyang, where he attended a crypto conference. At the event, he presented on Ethereum and discussed how cryptocurrency could help circumvent sanctions placed on North Korea. Initially contesting the charges, Griffith ultimately pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate international sanctions in 2021.
A New York judge sentenced him to a $100,000 fine and a 63-month prison term — considerably less than the potential 20-year sentence he could have faced had he gone to trial and lost. Last year, his attorneys successfully petitioned for a reduction of his sentence to 56 months, citing his first-time offender status.
Since mid-2021, Griffith has been behind bars. Although he was initially released on bail, a judge ordered him back into custody to await trial after he breached bail conditions by trying to access one of his cryptocurrency accounts to pay his legal fees.
Urbelis mentioned that Griffith’s legal team is optimistic about him being transferred from the halfway house in Baltimore to home confinement soon.
“However, the lasting implications remain: Virgil will be subject to burdensome probation for several years, with the specifics still to be determined,” Urbelis noted. “Additionally, the Department of Commerce has imposed strict export restrictions on him that will last until 2032, complicating his circumstances significantly.”
According to Urbelis, the Department of Commerce’s restrictions prevent Griffith from engaging, either directly or indirectly, in any dealings involving software or technology subject to export from the U.S., making his reentry into the cryptocurrency industry very challenging, if not impossible.
Griffith is also pursuing a pardon from the administration of President Donald Trump, which Urbelis described as an “ongoing process” that has made “great progress.”
“We are advocating for a pardon to rectify a prosecution we believe was misguided and fundamentally un-American from the start, to improve Virgil’s life, and to ensure that he has the opportunity to contribute to a world in dire need of innovative thinkers and doers like him,” Urbelis stated.
Trump has previously pardoned several individuals convicted on crypto-related charges, including Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht and former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes, as well as three individuals found guilty of breaching the Bank Secrecy Act. Additionally, others convicted of crypto crimes, such as former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, are also seeking similar pardons.