President Trump pardons Ross Ulbricht, a cult hero in the cryptocurrency world who was serving a life sentence and who founded the Silk Road black market, where goods could be bought and sold with Bitcoin.
Ross Ulbricht, a computer scientist who founded the Silk Road black market, which sometimes sold drugs and other illegal items, and was serving a life sentence without parole, was pardoned by President Donald Trump on January 21, 2025.
Exclusive | Trump announces pardon for Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, vacating life sentence
https://nypost.com/2025/01/21/us-news/trump-expected-to-pardon-silk-road-founder-ross-ulbricht-vacating-life-sentence/
Silk Road is a website where you can buy and sell goods with Bitcoin, but it can only be accessed through Tor. It is a so-called 'black market' platform where illegal drugs and hacked account information are also sold.
Ulbricht is said to have founded Silk Road in 2011 and ran it until his arrest in 2013. After his arrest, Ulbricht was indicted on charges including money laundering and hacking, and was sentenced to two life sentences plus 40 years in prison in 2015.
Where is the creator of the original dark web 'Silk Road' that enables anonymous commercial transactions, and what is he doing now? - GIGAZINE
As of 2025, Ulbricht was imprisoned in Tucson Correctional Facility in Arizona, but was granted pardon by President Trump on January 21, 2025.
'I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbricht to let her know that, in honor of the Libertarian Movement that has supported her and me so strongly, I have signed a full and unconditional pardon for her son, Ross,' President Trump wrote on his social media account, Truth Social. 'The scum who convicted him are the same lunatics who weaponized the government against me. He got two life sentences plus 40 years. Ridiculous!' he added.
Regarding Ulbricht, the Libertarian Party, a small conservative party that wants to legalize drugs, has argued that the case was an overreach by the government and called for his release. In addition, Chase Oliver, who was running for president from the Libertarian Party, said , 'If he wins, I want Ross Ulbricht's sentence to be commuted,' and Republican Senator Rand Paul sent a letter to President Trump asking him to show mercy. Some conservatives have called for a mitigation of the sentence. When President Trump attended the Libertarian Party National Convention in May 2024, he said, 'If you vote for me (in the presidential election), I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht,' so this pardon is essentially the fulfillment of his election promise.
Donald Trump declares that if people vote for him, he will commute the sentence of the founder of the dark website Silk Road - GIGAZINE
President Trump has significantly reversed the regulations on the cryptocurrency sector implemented during the term of former President Joe Biden, and is steering toward a full-scale push for cryptocurrencies. In fact, there has been talk of using government-owned cryptocurrencies, including those seized from Silk Road, as government funds.
Trump's cryptocurrency policy may be clouded by the possibility of a shortage of reserves due to the approval of the sale of 1 trillion yen worth of Bitcoin previously seized by the Department of Justice - GIGAZINE
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