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CoinDesk 2025-01-22 00:53:37

Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht Pardoned by President Trump

President Trump has followed through on one of his key campaign promises — at least for those in the crypto community — pardoning the sentence of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. "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," Trump wrote on a Truth Social post. The move assures an imminent release for Ulbricht, who in 2015 was convicted of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and distributing narcotics, along with a host of related crimes, via his operation of the darknet Silk Road marketplace. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ulbricht's case has become a cause célèbre for many in the crypto community who note he did not himself sell drugs or other illegal items but instead operated a platform where others were allowed to transact. Then-candidate Trump promised a "Day One" commutation of Ulbricht's sentence last May while addressing the Libertarian Party convention The price of bitcoin (BTC) rose in the minutes following the news, possibly as the pardon, along with a flurry of executive orders over the past hours, signals the president's intention to follow through on campaign promises. Another one of those promises was a far friendlier crypto regulatory stance, including the possibility of the creation of a strategic bitcoin reserve.