\n<\/p>\n
Two Europeans were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with providing cryptocurrency and blockchain technology services to North Korea illegally.<\/p>\n
What Happened<\/strong>: Pro-Pyongyang affinity organization founder\u00a0Alejandro Cao de Benos<\/strong>\u00a0of Spain and cryptocurrency businessman\u00a0Christopher Emms<\/strong>\u00a0of the United Kingdom were accused of recruiting the\u00a0recently-sentenced<\/a>\u00a0Ethereum<\/strong>\u00a0ETH\/USD<\/span> developer\u00a0Virgil Griffith\u00a0<\/strong>to help North Korea evade U.S. sanctions.<\/p>\n :ast week, Griffith was sentenced to over five years in prison and was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine. He faced a maximum sentence of 20 years but was able to strike a plea deal with prosecutors to limit it to approximately five to 6-1\/2 years.<\/p>\n Why It Matters<\/strong>: The U.S. has economic sanctions in place against North Korea over the latter’s continued testing of prohibited nuclear-capable missiles.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sanctions imposed against North Korea are critical in protecting the security interests of Americans, and we continue to aggressively enforce them with our law enforcement partners both here and abroad,\u201d The U.S. Department of Justice said.<\/p>\n Cao De Benos and Emms are charged with one count of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and will be penalized with a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.<\/p>\n Price Action<\/strong>: According to data from\u00a0Benzinga Pro<\/a>, Ethereum was trading at $3,007, nearly 5% higher in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, its peers such as\u00a0Bitcoin<\/strong>\u00a0BTC\/USD<\/span> gained 3.48% and\u00a0Dogecoin<\/strong>\u00a0(CRYPTO: Doge) was up 25.25%.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n