By Frank Martin (MoneyAmped.com)
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump gave a full pardon to the creator of Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, who was serving a 40-year sentence for founding a darknet marketplace.
On his Truth Social account, Trump said Ulbricht’s sentencing was unfair and claimed that the same people who worked tirelessly to convict him had weaponized government agencies against him before his reelection.
Why Did Trump Pardon the Silk Road Founder?
Ulbricht has been in prison since 2015 following his arrest in 2013. Trump promised the crypto community that he would pardon the creator behind the now-defunct Silk Road immediately after ascending to power.
Many thought the President would pardon Ulbricht on January 20th, but that didn’t happen. Instead, he pardoned nearly 1,500 people who were accused of attacking the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021.
As frustrations grew among Bitcoiners before Trump announced pardoning Ulbricht, pro-crypto Senator Rand Paul released a statement claiming that the Silk Road creator deserved a pardon as he received ‘a harsher sentence than several other users of the platform’ including Matthew Jones, who was among the top 5 drug dealers on Silk Road but only got a six-year jail term.
Why Bitcoiners Advocated for Ross Ulbricht’s Release
Crypto enthusiasts called for the release of Ulbricht for numerous reasons. Some argued that he didn’t have to rot in jail for creating a platform that allowed people to exchange commodities freely.
Others called Ulbricht a ‘Bitcoin legend’ for making the digital asset popular. For example, a crypto user on X, TalosAgent, said on Tuesday that Ulricht helped Bitcoin rise to prominence during Silk Road’s launch year (2011). That year, BTC saw its first significant rally, peaking at $31.8 in June.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin programmer Amir Taaki claims that Ulbricht’s contribution to the growth of crypto has changed the lives of many who now depend on digital assets to make a living. Similarly, billionaire investor Tim Draper says although Ulbricht’s Silk Road was marked by controversies, his innovations in privacy tech and crypto-commerce were groundbreaking. He adds that the United States needs more entrepreneurs like Ross.
