December 31, 2019
How To Really Help Free North Koreans Through Crypto
A few weeks ago, the FBI arrested an Alabama-born computer programmer for allegedly helping the North Korean regime evade U.S. sanctions through blockchain technology. According to the indictment, Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith provided technical education at an April 2019 blockchain conference in Pyongyang run by the regime. He also reportedly conspired to send cryptocurrency between North Korea and South Korea and encouraged other Americans to attend another Pyongyang blockchain conference scheduled for 2020.
Many prominent voices in the crypto space condemn Griffith’s actions, but there has been sympathy in some corners from those who echo Griffith’s line of thinking: He argued that spreading knowledge about blockchain and crypto could help bring peace to the Korean peninsula.
Such thinking is illogical. And it is blind to the nature of the Kim Jong Un regime, the actual nuclear threat, and the high stakes involved in the conflict. North Korea is the world’s most controlled society. Giving its ruling elites new capabilities to circumvent sanctions only helps them better enrich themselves. It increases their stranglehold on power and makes the regime more recalcitrant toward diplomatic engagement. The North Korean people have continued to suffer for decades precisely because sophisticated sanctions evasion schemes help the regime fill its coffers and, thus, maintain the status quo.
Read the full article in Forbes.
More from CNAS
-
Sharper: Global Coronavirus Response
Commentary
As regions across the United States enforce states of emergency and a growing list of countries restrict travel, close schools, and quarantine citizens, the economic and human...
By Chris Estep & Cole Stevens
-
Fallout from the New Oil War
Commentary
On the back of Covid-19–related economic declines and a corresponding fall in demand for energy, oil markets have collapsed in recent days. This has contributed to a massive m...
By Elizabeth Rosenberg & Neil Bhatiya
-
The Economic Impacts of Covid-19
Commentary
On March 19, the CNAS Energy, Economics, and Security (EES) program held a Twitter conversation on the impact of Covid-19 on economic and financial markets. EES Program Direct...
By Sam Dorshimer & Ashley Feng
-
How China set forth the global coronavirus crisis into motion
Commentary
As the shroud of crisis began to lift at the center of the coronavirus epidemic in China, Beijing launched a campaign to project an image of global leadership while the United...
By Kristine Lee & Ashley Feng
