Why Ross Ulbricht Was Pardoned By Donald Trump 

United States President Donald Trump has pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the imprisoned founder of the dark-web black market Silk Road on Tuesday, January 21, 2025 in accordance to fulfilling a campaign promise that resonated with libertarians and cryptocurrency advocates alike at the Libertarian Party National Convention during the 2024 United States presidential election.

An Ulbricht family-run X account posted an elated message after the president’s pardon.

“Words cannot express how grateful we are,” wrote Ulbricht’s wife. “President Trump is a man of his word and he just saved Ross’s life. ROSS IS A FREE MAN!!!!!”

Who Is Ross Ulbricht?

Ross Ulbricht is a 40year old American man who created and operated the darknet market website Silk Road from 2011 until his arrest in 2013 by the FBI in a San Francisco library, and Silk Road was taken offline. The Silk Road took its name from the historic trade routes spanning Europe, Asia and parts of Africa.

In 2015 Ulbricht was convicted in New York of seven counts related to his operation of Silk Road, which facilitated the sale of illegal drugs and other illicit goods using Bitcoin, including distributing narcotics and engaging in a criminal enterprise, money laundering conspiracy and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

While the Silk Road founder was apologetic during his sentencing hearing in 2015, where he was ordered to forfeit almost $200 million, he also said his founding of SIlk Road stemmed from his libertarian beliefs.

“I wanted to empower people to make choices in their lives…to have privacy and anonymity,” Ulbricht told the judge, according to Wired. “I’m not a sociopathic person trying to express some inner badness.” 

During his trial, prosecutors said Ulbricht’s website, hosted on the hidden “dark web”, sold more than $200m (£131m) worth of drugs anonymously.

Ulbricht’s appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2017 and the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 were unsuccessful.

  Prosecutors linked Silk Road to at least six drug overdose deaths.

Why Ross Ulbricht Was Pardoned?

The Libertarian party had been advocating for Ulbricht’s release and said his case was an example of government overreach. 

“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,” said Angela McArdle, the chair of the Libertarian National Committee.

Last year, Mr. Trump embraced Mr. Ulbricht’s cause on the campaign trail, first in a speech at a libertarian event and later at an annual Bitcoin conference in Nashville. He doubled down on social media, posting the hashtag #FreeRossDayOne on Truth Social, the site he owns.

Trump courted political contributions from the crypto industry, which spent more than $100 million to influence the outcome of the election.

After the election, a message from Mr. Ulbricht posted on X said he had “immense gratitude to everyone who voted for President Trump on my behalf.”

“I can finally see the light of freedom at the end of the tunnel,” the post said.

“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright to let her know,” Mr. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, misspelling Mr. Ulbricht’s name and making a reference to federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. “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.”

The decision comes as Trump’s administration is expected to significantly reverse course on what had been a crackdown by regulators on the cryptocurrency sector during Joe Biden’s tenure.

Trump has pledged to transform the US into the crypto capital of the world, taking an altogether looser approach to regulation of digital currencies. Leading cryptocurrencies including bitcoin have surged in value since his election victory last November.

He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous,” the president said in a Truth Social post.

Ulbricht’s lawyer, Joshua Dratel, in an email said he was “extremely gratified that an injustice has been corrected”. He said the pardon ensured Ulbricht “can have a life ahead of him to be the productive person he could have been all these years”.

He has been imprisoned at a federal prison in Arizona and it was not immediately clear when he would be released.

Republican congressman Thomas Massie, a Trump ally, applauded the president’s decision.

“Thank you for keeping your word to me and others who have been advocating for Ross’ freedom,” said the Kentucky lawmaker.