Ethereum contributor Virgil Griffith released from prison; pardon on the way?

Virgil Griffith, a key figure in Ethereum’s early development and known for his work on the Ethereum Name Service (ENS), has been released from prison on parole and transferred to a halfway house, according to updates shared on X on Wednesday, April 9, 2025.

Griffith was sentenced to 63 months in prison in 2022 after he pleaded guilty to providing the North Korean government with technical information on how they could evade sanctions, thereby violating sanction rules. 

The news of his release was first shared by Brantly Milegan, executive director of Ethereum Identity Foundation, who shared a picture of Griffith and his parents in front of the prison.

VIRGIL GRIFFITH IS OUT OF PRISON!!!

just released this morning! he'll be in a halfway house for a few weeks, and parole after that with work restrictions (so a pardon is still important), but HE IS OUT 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/Q4jRZmryGk

— brantly.eth (@BrantlyMillegan) April 9, 2025

Virgil Griffith was in prison for North Korean lectures

Alexander Urbelis, general counsel of the Ethereum Name Service who also doubles as Griffith’s outside counsel, also announced his release on X while also informing news sources that he has been released from FCI Milan, a low-security prison in Michigan, where he served part of his sentence having initially being in FCI Allenwood Low, another low-security federal prison in Pennsylvania.

Griffith has been incarcerated since November 2019, when he was arrested for violating international sanctions. This came seven months after he spoke at a crypto conference in North Korea, with prosecutors claiming that his presentation on Ethereum and cryptocurrency provided information that could be used to evade sanctions and launder money.  

North Korea has been subject to a series of sanctions from the United States and other countries in the West and is known for its affiliation with the criminal hacker organization, Lazarus group, which is known to be responsible for major crypto hacks and heists.  

Upon his arrest, Griffith did not accept the charges against him, but in 2021 he pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

In 2022, a New York judge sentenced him to 63 months in prison along with a $100,000 fine, which was considered a modest penalty compared to the potential 20-year sentence he could have received if he went to trial and got convicted.

In July 2024, his sentence was reduced to 56 months by U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel after a plea by his lawyers, who pointed out that he was a first-time offender. 

Griffith now faces several years of probation, with specific terms yet to be disclosed. Urbelis noted that Griffith’s legal team is working to move him from a halfway house to full home confinement. However, his path to resuming a normal life remains complicated.

“The Department of Commerce placed severe export restrictions on Virgil that will extend until 2032,” Urbelis said, adding that these restrictions could severely limit Griffith’s ability to re-enter the crypto industry.

Trump’s pro-crypto administration may provide further relief

Griffith’s case has remained controversial, sparking debate about the line between open-source knowledge sharing and aiding sanctioned regimes, with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin lending his voice on the matter as well as signing a petition calling for his release in 2023. 

While his supporters argue that he was promoting publicly available blockchain knowledge, prosecutors insisted the intent and context violated U.S. national security interests.

Before joining the Ethereum Foundation, Griffith earned a Ph.D. in Computation and Neural Systems from Caltech in 2014. He gained early recognition for launching WikiScanner, a tool that traced anonymous Wikipedia edits, and collaborated with the late activist-programmer Aaron Swartz on Tor2web, an interface allowing users to access Tor hidden services via standard web browsers.

Griffith is currently seeking a presidential pardon from the Trump administration. According to Urbelis, progress is being made on the effort. Former President Donald Trump is known for granting clemency to figures involved in crypto-related offenses, including Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht and former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes.

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