United States President Donald Trump has granted a pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the infamous creator of illegal online drug marketplace Silk Road two days after his inauguration, as well as a slew of convicted Capitol Hill rioters, anti-abortion activists and others deemed worthy of release.
During the initial days of his administration, as part of a series of significant executive orders and announcements, Trump pardoned about 1,500 people from serving the rest of their sentences.
Founder of dark web marketplace Silk Road - where you could buy and sell illegal items internationally using Bitcoin - Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 following a widely publicised trial that drew attention to the internet’s illegal underbelly.
The FBI arrested Ulbricht and seized his laptop in October 2013 and he was subsequently sentenced to life in prison for drug trafficking, computer hacking, and money laundering.
Silk Road generated hundreds of millions of dollars in sales of illegal items and more than US$13 million dollars worth of Bitcoin in commissions and in November 2020, the FBI had seized more than US$1 billion worth of crypto from the case.
Trump seems to share Ulbricht's plight.
"The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern-day weaponisation of government against me" - Donald Trump, via Truth Social
Crypto community rallies
Crowdfunding for Ross Ulbricht to set up a new life has tipped well over US$270,000 on the first day of his pardon as far as can be identified, with coin exchange Kraken itself pouring in $111,111 worth of BTC into the wallet.
Yet there are some who believe Ulbricht still has about US$47 million across non-confiscated wallet addresses out there.
