Well it wasn’t like he did this by accident:

> "The most important feature of blockchains is that they are open. And the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] can't be kept out no matter what the USA or the UN says,"

He intentionally violated the law. Sure, one may consider the law stupid but one should expect to be punished if one blatantly violates it. That’s how laws work, he’s not imprisoned by the whim of a king.

It would be more stupid to violate the law and expect no negative repercussions. There are more constructive ways to reform laws than openly violating them.