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Benjamin W. Hutten extensively quoted in CoinDesk article, “ConsenSys Suddenly Bars Iranian Students from Ethereum Coding Class”

CoinDesk

The CoinDesk article, “ConsenSys Suddenly Bars Iranian Students from Ethereum Coding Class,” discussed the removal of 50 Iranian students from the ConsenSys Academy, an educational branch of the New York City-based block chain software technology company in mid-November.

It is not clear if the current sanctions bar U.S. companies from teaching blockchain programming to Iranians, though Hutten said that while education is normally not subject to the sanctions the U.S. imposed on Iran, there are some intricate caveats. He also noted that the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) “has not been in the habit of publicly penalizing companies providing education or educational materials to Iran, and it certainly has not imposed severe penalties in this sphere. However, the agency has discretion to make the penalty fit the circumstances, and thus to the extent that the information or education could be or is used to violate or evade stations, the penalties could be more severe.”

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