Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Bitcoin industry’s first major business, the Silk Road, is now free. Donald Trump called his mother Lyn Ulbricht last night to deliver the news that he had signed a full and unconditional presidential pardon of her son who had been in federal prison since summer 2015.
Trump promised to pardon Ulbricht on “day one” in office. However, as January 20 passed and January 21 drew to a close, doubt began to creep into the #FreeRoss community. Impatience grew as Trump spent time signing dozens of non-crypto executive orders and then went off to attend the Commander in Chief Ball and the Liberty Ball.
Elon Musk tried to quell fears, reiterating the president’s promise mid-day on January 21 while White House spokespeople didn’t respond to requests for comment about the pardon prior to Trump’s announcement.
The matter dragged on long enough for some X users to express skepticism. As of 7am on January 21, Polymarket’s binary options accepted crypto bets at 92% odds of his pardon.
But by 7pm, Polymarket had resolved the market to 100% odds as Ulbricht received the pardon.
Ross Ulbricht receives full, unconditional, presidential pardon
On the evening of January 21, Trump used his social media platform Truth Social to announce that he had signed Ulbricht’s full pardon. Lyn Ulbricht tweeted the news after her phone call with Trump.
The action was above and beyond Trump’s verbal promise that he made at the Libertarian National Convention and reiterated at Bitcoin 2024. He’d only promised to commute Ulbricht’s sentence — a lesser reprieve that would have simply freed him from prison.
Ulbricht’s full pardon not only terminates his punishment but also absolves him of federal guilt for his previously convicted actions.
During its 2011-2013 operation, Silk Road primarily facilitated drug and firearms deals between customers via mail courier delivery. Silk Road customers paid one another using bitcoin (BTC) to facilitate pseudonymity and chargeback resistance.
As compensation, Ulbricht charged a transaction fee on all orders. Prior to its FBI seizure, Ulbricht had amassed over 144,000 BTC. It’s unclear how much, if any, of this trove he retains, or whether he has any legal claim to BTC previously seized by the FBI.
Ulbricht’s second-in-command not pardoned
Roger Thomas Clark, Ulbricht’s senior advisor and “second-in-command” at Silk Road, received a 20-year prison sentence. Clark, who went by the nicknames “Variety Jones” and “Cimon,” is 63 years old and is still imprisoned in North Carolina.
Clark has a release date scheduled for May 21, 2032. He’s not received a presidential pardon.
Read more: No, the US government hasn’t liquidated 69,000 Silk Road bitcoin — yet
Prior to yesterday, Ulbricht had been serving a double life sentence plus 40 years. A presidential pardon was his only possibility to exit Bureau of Prisons custody.
In his presidential announcement, Trump echoed a common criticism of Ulbricht’s long sentence, calling it “ridiculous.”
