A man from the United States has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for advising North Korea on cryptocurrency trading.

The advice Virgil Griffith, 39, gave to North Korea on the digital currency comes in direct violation of US sanctions, which Griffith pleaded guilty to breaching.

He admitted to presenting a cryptocurrency conference to more than 100 people in Pyongyang in 2019, even after the US government had denied his request to travel to the country ran by despot Kim Jong-Un.

The apparently well-known hacker had developed "cryptocurrency infrastructure and equipment inside North Korea," prosecutors wrote in court papers.

The 2019 conference where Griffith lectured on how to use cryptocurrency to evade sanctions and achieve independence from banking systems, was reportedly attended by more than 100 people, some of which worked in the North Korean government.

Both the UN Security Council and US have imposed strict sanctions on North Korea in a series of attempts to curb the country and its efforts in nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Updates to the sanctions brought in by the US in 2018 prohibited "a US person, wherever located" from exporting technology to North Korea.

Prosecutors and Griffith acknowledged the presentation amounted to a transfer of technical knowledge to those present at the conference, ABC reported.

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Prosecutors wrote: "Griffith is an American citizen who chose to evade the sanctions of his own country to provide services to a hostile foreign power.

"He did so, knowing that power — North Korea — was guilty of atrocities against its own people and has made threats against the United States citing its nuclear capabilities."

Defence attorney Brian Klein said Griffith was a "brilliant, Caltech-trained scientist who developed a curiosity bordering on obsession" with North Korea and that his client "loves his country and never set out to do any harm".

Mr Klein added he was disappointed with the 63-month sentence, but was "pleased the judge acknowledged Virgil's commitment to moving forward with his life productively, and that he is a talented person who has a lot to contribute".

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