Former Ethereum Foundation Developer Leaves Prison Parole

Virgil Griffith, a former developer with the Ethereum Foundation, was recently released from prison on parole. Brantly Millegan announced the news in a post on X. This marks significant headway following the effort of key players in the cryptocurrency industry to secure his release.

Griffith’s Work With Ethereum Foundation 

According to Millegan’s post, Griffith was released in the early hours of April 9 but will remain in a “halfway house” for a few weeks. 

The former Ethereum Foundation developer will also face work restrictions besides his parole. Millegan’s X post included a picture of Griffith and his parents, allegedly taken this morning just outside the prison.

Before going to prison, Griffith offered his services to the Ethereum Foundation and the Ethereum Name Service (ENS), which is funded by the former. Griffith became a part of the Ethereum Foundation around 2016. He is greatly recognized for his early work on the ENS and other protocol-level improvements.

US Government Goes After Griffith 

Griffith has a Ph.D. in computation and neural systems from Caltech. Some of his products are WikiScanner, a tool to track Wikipedia edits, and Tor2web, which he created with lauded cryptographer Aaron Swartz. The duo created this tool to serve as an interface for accessing hidden Tor websites via regular web browsers.

Millegan recalled when Griffith gave a presentation called Blockchains for Peace in North Korea. This presentation, which he gave, attracted the attention of the US government, although he was not charged with any crime at the time. 

Virgil Griffith Gets Reduced Jail Sentence 

Griffith was later sentenced to 5 years and 3 months in a US prison in 2022 for violating sanctions law. 

US prosecutors accused him of presenting “technical advice on using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to evade sanctions.” These allegations highlighted the growing use of cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions, especially among high-profile individuals. 

It is worth noting that Griffith had pleaded guilty to sanctions violations a year before this time. By July 2024, U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel reduced his sentence to 56 months. As it stands, this sentence is yet to be fulfilled.

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