US President Donald Trump has issued an unconditional pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the infamous creator of the dark web online marketplace Silk Road. The 40-year-old Ulbricht has been serving life in prison without the possibility of parole since 2015, on charges including distributing narcotics on the internet.

"I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbricht to let her know that in honour 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 his social media platform, TruthSocial.

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. The scum that worked to convict him were…

— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) January 22, 2025

Ulbricht is a highly divisive figure in the discourse about online freedoms. While cryptocurrency enthusiasts and libertarians see him as an icon, for others he is a criminal who enabled all kinds of illegal activities through an online marketplace on the dark web.

CREDIT: FREEROSS

In 2011, Ulbricht, who went by his pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts, created Silk Road, the first-of-its-kind online marketplace on the dark web, which allowed users to anonymously buy all kinds of illegal items, including drugs, weapons, and even hire hitmen. All the financial transactions were done using Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that was launched in 2009 and had only started picking up traction.

CREDIT: RESEARCH GATE

In October 2013, the FBI shut down the Silk Road website, and Ulbricht was arrested. It is believed to have facilitated around 1.5 million transactions in the three years of its existence.

A graduate from the University of Texas at Dallas and a postgraduate from Pennsylvania State University, Ulbricht was a libertarian who wanted to create a website "where people could buy anything anonymously, with no trail whatsoever that could lead back to them."

CREDIT: FREEROSS

For years, Ulbricht's supporters have argued that his life-in-prison sentence was overly punitive and called for his release online and at industry gatherings.

During his election campaign, Trump was the benefactor of generous donations and support from the crypto community. In July 2024, Trump even addressed the crypto community at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

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