President Donald Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the drug marketplace Silk Road who is revered by many cryptocurrency enthusiasts and libertarians.
“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright to let her know,” Mr. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, misspelling Ulbricht’s name.
Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole nearly a decade ago. He had created and operated Silk Road on the dark web, turning it into an international drug marketplace that facilitated more than 1.5 million transactions. At his 2015 sentencing, a judge said Ulbricht was “the kingpin of a worldwide digital drug-trafficking enterprise.”
But crypto enthusiasts have long been championing Ulbricht’s release. Silk Road was one of the first platforms where people could use Bitcoin to buy and sell goods. And many thought his was given an overly harsh sentence. Trump, who courted cryptocurrency enthusiasts during his campaign, said last year that he would work to free Ulbricht.
A website dedicated to Ulbricht’s release was updated Wednesday to include a statement attributed to his family. “Our immense gratitude to President Trump for giving Ross a second chance and to all those who have supported us throughout the years,” the statement reads. “From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!”
Login to add comment
Other posts in this group
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but email scams are getting surprisingly sophisticated.
We’ve had a handful of instances here at The Intelligence International Headquarters where we’ve h
Interest in virtual private networks (VPNs) has surged in America and Europe this year. Countries on both sides of the Atlantic have recently enacted new age-verification laws designed to prevent
Instagram’s new location-sharing Map feature is raising privacy concerns among some users, who worry their whereab
Crypto is booming again. Bitcoin is near record highs, Walmart and Amazon are report
Greetings, salutations, and thanks for reading Fast Company’s Plugged In.
On August 4, Amazon announced that it was restructuring its Wondery podcast studio. The compan
Remember when the internet cried actual tears for an anglerfish earli
