Thread by @thewalrus

Stay tuned for a Twitter takeover by @Ethan_Lou, talking about an excerpt from his book "Once a Bitcoin Miner," which depicts first-hand a North Korean cryptocurrency conference—one of whose speakers was later arrested by the FBI. thewalrus.ca/north-korea-cr… 1/15

Hi everyone. I’m @Ethan_Lou, here to tell the story behind the excerpt. You might have heard of it. Virgil Griffith is a US citizen and an executive at the Ethereum Foundation. In 2019, we were in North Korea together. Last month, I saw him in court facing twenty years. 2/15

How did we get here?

North Korea has been under strict economic sanctions. Cryptocurrency is theoretically a way around that. North Korea has been accused of lots of shady crypto dealings. When it announced a conference in 2018, that immediately caught my attention. 3/15

I am a journalist, but I'm also a Bitcoin investor. I'd read about North Korea's crypto dealings. When I heard about the conference, I knew I had to go. Virgil, no doubt, felt the same.

As well, I have a great personal interest (in picture, from "Once a Bitcoin Miner").

4/15

What ensued: @thetimes, in its review of my book, calls the experience a "surreal blockchain conference in Pyongyang before being hauled round...and getting blind drunk with their minders."

The true surreality, however, would come much later.

5/15
thetimes.co.uk/article/once-a…

From the book: "It was Thanksgiving of 2019. Ethereum’s Virgil Griffith was planning to fly from Los Angeles to Baltimore to be with his parents, sister, and her family, but he never made it. At the airport that morning, under the dull and steely sky, Virgil got arrested." 6/15

What happened?
By speaking at the conference, Virgil was accused of helping North Korea break sanctions. In the @financialpost, I outlined the national security and geopolitical concerns.
It was the start of a miserable two years for Virgil.
7/15
financialpost.com/fp-finance/cry…

The defence said Virgil gave only publicly available info. The prosecution said it doesn't matter—he had the intent of helping North Korea and he acted on it.

And, in a twist, the prosecution has a recording from an unnamed conference attendee. 8/15

scribd.com/document/53302…

In the aftermath, people like Ethereum founder @VitalikButerin have come out in support of Virgil. I do agree with the defence that there was nothing of substance broached at the conference. But that doesn't matter. Only the jury’s opinion does. 9/15

https://twitter.com/vitalikbuterin/status/1201182901062307840?lang=en

Yet, as the case lurched toward trial, Virgil had repeated setbacks. While on bail, he was hauled back to jail after breaking rules by trying to access cryptocurrency to pay lawyers—which also speaks to the heavy financial toll. Everything looked increasingly bleak. 10/15

In September, I flew to New York from Toronto for the trial. At first, I didn't even buy a return ticket—I anticipated the trial dragging beyond the scheduled two weeks. But that was unnecessary. On the first day, a shocking development: Virgil pleaded guilty. 11/15

It's hard to say why Virgil suddenly changed course. But I know that, in court, I saw him sigh repeatedly and say he has depression. In @CoinDesk, I wrote that "it seemed as if, bit by bit, the judicial process had chipped away at him." 12/15 coindesk.com/business/2021/…

Virgil took a plea deal for up to 6.5 years in jail. It was my first time seeing him since North Korea. I could not help but feel a certain loss of innocence, I wrote in my @financialpost column. Those days in North Korea now seem a distant memory. 13/15 financialpost.com/fp-finance/cry…

The trip wasn't supposed to be in my book. I went to North Korea in a personal capacity and didn't expect it to make national headlines. But life is strange sometimes. "Once a Bitcoin Miner" by @ecwpress explores those seven nights in Pyongyang. 14/15 ecwpress.com/products/once-…

That’s it from me, @Ethan_Lou. Thanks to @thewalrus for sharing its Twitter account. You can read an excerpt from “Once a Bitcoin Miner: Scandal and Turmoil in the Cryptocurrency Wild West” here: thewalrus.ca/north-korea-cr… 15/15