US President Donald Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founding father of the Silk Highway market, delivering on a marketing campaign promise he made to courtroom the cryptocurrency group and libertarian voters.
Trump made the announcement on Tuesday in a publish to his Fact Social platform, the place he initially misspelled Ulbricht’s identify. Trump mentioned he had known as Ulbricht’s mom “to let her know that in honour of her and the Libertarian Motion, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have simply signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross”.
Ulbricht was sentenced to life in jail after a 2015 conviction in connection to his work operating Silk Highway, a darkish net market the place clients used digital currencies to purchase unlawful medication and hacker instruments. In its two years in operation, greater than US$200-million value of illicit exercise flowed by way of the location, in line with the division of justice.
Trump vowed to supply Ulbricht clemency throughout an deal with to the Libertarian Celebration conference in the course of the 2024 marketing campaign, a part of an effort to win the assist of cryptocurrency lovers.
“For those who vote for me, on day one I’ll commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht,” Trump mentioned on the conference. “We’re going to get him residence.”
Higher recognized by his on-line pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts”, Ulbricht — age 40 — was imprisoned in 2013 and was serving a double-life sentence with out the potential for parole for drug trafficking crimes in addition to conspiracy to commit laptop hacking and cash laundering. Prosecutors additionally alleged that he tried to rearrange murders to guard his enterprise however the authorities didn’t consider any have been carried out.
Ulbricht has already unsuccessfully appealed his sentence twice.
Embraced
Trump, who was initially a sceptic about digital belongings, embraced cryptocurrencies in the course of the marketing campaign, vowing to streamline rules, choose industry-friendly figures to supervise it, assist a stablecoin framework and set up a bitcoin reserve, along with his pledge to commute Ulbricht’s sentence.
Learn: Losses from crypto hacks jumped to R40-billion in 2024
The 2024 election highlighted the rising affect of the {industry}, which ramped up political contributions to elect beneficial candidates to workplace. — Stephanie Lai, (c) 2025 Bloomberg LP
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