An American citizen and researcher has been arrested on charges of illegally travelling to North Korea and assisting the country in evading sanctions, the United States Justice Department (DOJ) said in a statement on Friday.

The Singapore-based Virgil Griffith, 36, who works as a researcher with the Ethereum Foundation non-profit and is based in Singapore, stands accused of travelling to the DPRK for a conference on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology and providing information on how that technology could be accused to skirt international sanctions.