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Donald Trump has issued a pardon for Ross Ulbricht, who was serving a life sentence handed down in 2015 for his role in running an online marketplace that dealt illegal drugs and provided hacking services.
Within just two days of taking office, the new president kept his campaign promise by freeing Ulbricht, whose imprisonment had become a rallying point for bitcoin supporters and libertarians over the years.
During Ulbricht’s trial, U.S. prosecutors argued that he created the platform, famously known as Silk Road, to leverage the dark web’s anonymity and the use of bitcoin. Meanwhile, Ulbricht’s supporters argued that he was a scapegoat for a government eager to criminalize web hosting activities.
In an expressive post on Truth Social late Tuesday, Trump attributed the conviction to “scum” involved in what he described as modern-day government weaponization against him.
Trump had committed to granting Ulbricht a pardon, after his arrest at a San Francisco library in 2013, during the Libertarian Party’s national convention last May.
In announcing the pardon, Trump recognized the strong backing from the Libertarian Movement, declaring it “in honour” of their support.
Calling it a “seismic shift,” the Libertarian Party celebrated the pardon as a breakthrough against “the suffocating wall of state oppression.”
This decision further roots Trump in the cryptocurrency sphere, especially since he launched his own token late on Friday. Major industry figures and organizations enthusiastically supported Trump’s presidential run, contributing significantly to his campaign.
Trump vowed to establish the United States as the “bitcoin superpower of the world,” promising to halt what he described as the industry’s persecution under the Biden administration.
Some industry leaders hailed Ulbricht’s release. Jesse Powell, co-founder of U.S. crypto exchange Kraken, expressed gratitude to Trump for honoring his commitment to the pardon. “You have our admiration, respect, and loyalty,” Powell posted on X, praising Ulbricht as an “absolute legend and inspiration.”
“Finally Ross is free,” commented Paolo Ardoino, CEO of stablecoin company Tether.
Silk Road utilized the Tor Network and exclusively accepted bitcoin, which prosecutors said allowed users and transactions to remain largely anonymous.
The platform enabled trading in illegal drugs, hacking services, and forged documents among other illicit goods, prosecutors claimed. Named after the historic trade routes connecting the Middle East and China with Western nations, Silk Road became synonymous with digital anonymity.
Prosecutors presented statements from families of individuals who died from drugs purchased on the site during the trial.
At Ulbricht’s 2015 sentencing, the judge noted he had ordered and paid for five murders, although acknowledging there was neither charge nor evidence of such crimes being committed. At the time of his arrest, the U.S. government confiscated 173,991 bitcoins from Ulbricht’s laptop.
