An American cryptocurrency specialist has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on North Korea, the Justice Department (DOJ) announced on Monday (U.S. time).

Virgil Griffith, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, is accused of delivering a lecture on cryptocurrencies at a conference in Pyongyang and detailing how North Korea could use blockchain technology to launder money and avoid sanctions.

U.S. authorities arrested Griffith in Nov. 2019 on charges of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). He originally pleaded not guilty in Jan. 2020 before changing his