Uncovering the Motives Behind North Korea's Crypto Conference

On Jan. 15, the United Nations warned that attending North Korea's cryptocurrency conference in February will likely constitute a sanctions violation.

The leaked report notes that North Korea is planning to use the money for its weapons of mass destruction programs, creating a significant cause for concern.

North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since its first nuclear test in 2006.

In addition to stolen funds, the U.N.'s warning follows the indictment of Ethereum Foundation researcher Virgil Griffith, who traveled to North Korea in April last year to attend the country's first blockchain conference.

North Korea planning its next blockchain conference in FebruaryDespite all this, some members of the blockchain community are still planning to host an event in North Korea next month.

Both Emms and Cao de Benos did not respond to Cointelegraph's request for comment regarding the reasons for hosting a blockchain conference in North Korea.

Brittany Kaiser - an activist, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower and subject of the Netflix documentary "The Great Hack" - explained that she was invited last August to attend an event in North Korea scheduled for September via a Telegram group organized by Emms.Kaiser told Cointelegraph that she thinks Emms was also behind North Korea's blockchain conference last April, for which Griffith was arrested.

She defended members of the blockchain community who were invited to the event last April, saying they could have been unaware of the dangers associated with visiting North Korea.

Is North Korea a bad actor for blockchain?Kaiser explained that even though the event organized by Emms last August was eventually cancelled for unknown reasons, she still wants to know who asked Emms and others to organize the event in the first place.

Kaiser, who holds a master's of law in human rights with a focus on North Korea, believes that North Korea's interest in blockchain demonstrates bad actors using technology to wield power over others, "North Korea poses one of the biggest threats to human rights and a violation of most international agreements to uphold basic standards."