Standing on stage at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference in Nashville last summer, Donald Trump knew exactly how to get the crowd on his side. After promising to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet” and fire the deeply unpopular SEC chairman Gary Gensler, the Republican candidate made a pledge that received one of the biggest cheers of his speech.
“I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht to a sentence of time served,” he said, referring to the founder of the notorious dark web marketplace Silk Road, who had been in prison since 2013. “It’s enough, it’s enough.”
On Tuesday – the first full day of his presidency – Trump granted Ulbricht a full and unconditional pardon, allowing him to walk free after more than 11 years of incarceration.
Four of those years imprisoned were during Trump’s first term in office, leading some to accuse the incoming president of pandering to a fringe segment of voters who the Republican candidate courted during his campaign. This group was made up of libertarians and cryptocurrency holders, who had made Ulbricht into a cause celebre after he was handed a double life sentence plus 40 years for non-violent crimes.
He was seen as a champion of internet freedom and the person who built the platform that provided the first mass use case of bitcoin. The Free Ross website, which was run by his family, described him as an “idealistic libertarian, passionate about free markets and privacy”.
Some also praised Silk Road for being a safer way to buy illicit drugs than on the streets, where buyers risked robbery, violence, or unsafe products though the site’s notoriety led him to be labeled “the most dangerous man on the internet”.
The dark web site was based on the libertarian non-aggression principle, allowing people to buy and sell anything, so long as no third party was harmed. The rules of the site, which was only accessible through specialist software, meant that child pornography, stolen goods, violent services and fraudulent activity were strictly prohibited.
A study by Carnegie Mellon University found that the most common transactions were for personal-use amounts of marijuana – a drug that has since been legalised throughout many parts of the US.
Ulbricht admitted his guilt but sought forgiveness on the grounds that the punishment for his crime was more severe than that of murderers and rapists.
In a letter to President Joe Biden in 2022, Ulbricht wrote: “At 26, I made an e-commerce website called Silk Road that allowed people to buy and sell anonymously online. I thought at the time that I was promoting my ideals, but I have since learned what a terrible mistake I made.
“It was supposed to be a place where anyone could buy or sell whatever they chose so long as they weren’t hurting someone else. […] Over countless hours, I have searched my soul and examined the misguided decisions I made when I was younger. I have dug deep and made a sincere effort to not just change what I do, but who I am. I am no longer the type of man who could break the law and let down so many.”
The most serious accusations against Ulbricht involved an alleged murder-for-hire service, however no evidence existed of any killings taking place, leading his supporters to claim that he had been targeted by “corrupt federal agents” and the victim of a politically-motivated witch hunt.
In pardoning Ulbricht, Trump used similar language to compare Ulbricht’s case with his own legal troubles.
“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,” the president wrote in a post to Truth Social on Tuesday, further indicating that Ulbricht’s release was politically motivated.
It has inevitably drawn comparisons to other politically-motivated pardons granted by Trump, most notably around 1,500 January 6 rioters – some of whom were found guilty of seditious conspiracy and assaulting law enforcement officers.
But rather than insurrectionists, Trump was placating a less violent section of his supporters. His post added: “I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright [sic] 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.”
