United States president Donald Trump has given a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht — the man responsible for founding world’s first darknet market Silk Road.
The news follows Trump enduring a frosty reception at the Libertarian National Convention in May 2024, only to be greeted by cheers when he promised to pardon the Silk Road founder. He said at the time:
“And if you vote for me, on Day One, I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht.”
The current United States president apparently took the libertarian response to his heart, and hinted at them in a Truth Social post addressing Ulbricht’s pardon. He wrote:
“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross.”
Trump also described those responsible for imprisoning him as “scum” and “lunatics.” He also highlighted that the sentence was — in his view — excessive:
“He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!
The details
Silk Road was an online darknet marketplace launched in 2011. It operated on the Tor network and allowed users to buy and sell illegal goods and services anonymously using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The marketplace became notorious for facilitating the trade of drugs and was shut down by law enforcement in 2013, leading to the arrest of its founder, Ross Ulbricht.
Trump’s move comes just after United States Senator Rand Paul had also called on him to pardon Ulbricht in a Jan. 21 letter. The letter read:
“Mr. Ulbricht’s sentence is vastly disproportionate to his crimes. He was condemned to spend the rest of his life in prison because he was held liable for the drugs and illegal goods bought and sold on his platform.
Yet. the worst drug sellers on the site received significantly more lenient sentences.”
Earlier this month, the United States government was allowed by a court to sell $6.5 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) seized from the world’s first darknet market. The news had apparently triggered a downturn in the crypto market at the time, with many expecting such a large-scale Bitcoin flood would upset the supply-demand equilibrium.