Cryptocurrency community condemns Vitalik Buterin’s support for Virgil Griffith
Ishan Garg Posted On December 2, 2019 
Days after Ethereum Foundation developer and a close friend of Vitalik Buterin, Virgil Griffith, was arrested by US authorities after teaching North Korea on how to use Bitcoins to evade sanctions, Vitalik Buterin has broken the silence on the matter.
In a series of tweets, Vitalik Buterin expressed support for Virgil Griffith and condemns the US government for arresting Virgil. According to Vitalik, Virgil didn’t do anything wrong and only gave the information that is available in the public domain.
3. I don't think what Virgil did gave DRPK any kind of real help in doing anything bad. He *delivered a presentation based on publicly available info about open-source software*. There was no weird hackery "advanced tutoring".
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 1, 2019
Vitalik’s views are different from Ethreum Foundation’s views who are trying to distance themselves from Virgil. In a statement by Ethereum Foundation, the organization said,
“The Foundation is aware of the recent charges filed against Virgil Griffith. We can confirm that the Foundation was not represented in any capacity at the events outlined in the Justice Department’s filing and that the Foundation neither approved nor supported any such travel, which was a personal matter. We are continuing to monitor the situation as it develops.”
Community Against Vitalik’s Views
The general cryptocurrency community also reacted strongly against Vitalik’s views. According to people, Virgil acted on his own accord despite being warned by the US Feds and doesn’t deserve any support.
Honestly Vitalik, it doesn’t matter how good of a person Virgil is, or how honorable his intentions were. He made an incredible stupid decision and went directly against the USGov. I very much disagree with your support of him.
— Daniel Greene (@dgreene359) December 1, 2019
Defending your friend for helping North Korea to use Ethereum. pic.twitter.com/N4awySxbHk
— DGB (@DigiByteMike) December 1, 2019
Virgil was denied permission by the US Dept. of State to travel to NK yet he went anyway. Case closed – he willingly and knowingly violated law and will likely serve an extremely long sentence because he is stupid.
— WhiteRabbit (@WhiteRabbitBTC) December 1, 2019
Some people have criticized the Ethereum Foundation and Vitalik Buterin for not denouncing the trip. According to Vitalik, the Foundation did advise Virgil against it but he personally didn’t know it would become a serious issue.
4. And if there was any indication that it was going in that direction, I would have reacted much more strongly against it.
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 1, 2019
Discuss this news on our Telegram Community. Subscribe to us on Google news and do follow us on Twitter @Blockmanity
Did you like the news you just read? Please leave a feedback to help us serve you better
Disclaimer: Blockmanity is a news portal and does not provide any financial advice. Blockmanity's role is to inform the cryptocurrency and blockchain community about what's going on in this space. Please do your own due diligence before making any investment. Blockmanity won't be responsible for any loss of funds.
