President Donald Trump has unconditionally pardoned Bitcoin pioneer and creator of dark web marketplace Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht.
Fulfilling one of his many campaign promises, Trump announced the pardon in a Truth Social post Tuesday evening, writing: “I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbricht 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.
“The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!,” he concluded.
Ulbricht was arrested by the FBI in 2013, accused of running an international drug marketplace on the dark web that generated a multimillion dollar revenue from the sales of illicit substances like heroin and cocaine.
He was convicted of several charges in 2015, including drug trafficking and money laundering, and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
While the FBI deemed Ulbricht a criminal, his supporters amongst crypto and Libertarian circles thought otherwise, minting him a hero instead. At the time, rare use of Bitcoin to buy and sell items on Silk Road earned the robust respect of crypto crowds.
“It’s hard to argue that Ross Ulbricht wasn’t the most successful and influential entrepreneur of the early Bitcoin era,” Pete Rizzo, an editor at news publication Bitcoin Magazine, told The New York Times. “This is the industry banding together and saying, ‘We’re going to reclaim our own.’”
Meanwhile, Ulbricht was championed by his fellow Libertarians for pioneering a free market, becoming a sort of martyr to the party who held up “Free Ross” signs when Trump spoke at their national convention in May 2024. For years, the party has argued that Ulbricht simply hosted the site and didn’t actually engage in drug possession or transaction directly, partaking in a libertarian experiment in free trade instead of criminal activity.
“Ross Ulbricht has been a libertarian political prisoner for more than a decade. I’m proud to say that saving his life has been one of our top priorities and that has finally paid off,” Libertarian National Committee Chair Angela McArdle said in a statement after Trump’s pardon.
“Ross, congratulations to you and your family. God bless you and keep you safe in your new found freedom. On behalf of the Libertarian Party, we are gifting you with an honorary lifetime membership. Thank you to Pres. Trump for following through on your promise. This is an incredible moment in Libertarian history.”
