Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the first-ever crypto-platform drug market, Silk Road, has been released from prison in the US after a presidential pardon. His arrest in 2013 marked the beginning of a large-scale crackdown on the darknet.
Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the first-ever crypto-platform drug market, Silk Road, has been released from prison in the US after a presidential pardon. His arrest in 2013 marked the beginning of a large-scale crackdown on the darknet.
As Futurism reports, in January 2025, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order pardoning Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, the most famous darknet marketplace of the early 2010s. This site, which operated on the Tor network and accepted payment exclusively in Bitcoin, became the first mass example of the use of cryptocurrency for illegal transactions.
Silk Road existed from 2011 to 2013 and at its peak had more than 5.5 million users. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, it processed more than $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency, and Ulbricht earned at least $80 million in commissions alone. The platform was used to sell drugs, fake documents, and sometimes even weapons, although the Silk Road administration later banned the latter.
This darknet marketplace was shut down in October 2013. A year after Ulbricht’s arrest, the US government seized and sold nearly 174,000 BTC associated with the site. However, while Silk Road has since ceased to exist, its concept inspired dozens of similar platforms that still exist today.
Ulbricht was arrested in October 2013 at the San Francisco Public Library. He was charged not only with money laundering and conspiracy to distribute drugs, but also with attempted murder—although the court did not officially find these attempts proven. In 2015, he was sentenced to two life sentences plus 40 years without parole. The judge said Silk Road had become a tool for drugs that «destroyed lives.»
However, during the 12 years he spent in prison, Ulbricht became an icon for a part of the crypto community. His supporters collected more than 600,000 signatures for a pardon, and the campaign was supported by right-libertarian activists and influential figures from the crypto world. That is why the presidential pardon is perceived by many not as an act of justice, but as a gesture of support for crypto ideology.
At the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, Ulbricht made his first public appearance since his release. He gave an emotional thank you for the support and admitted that he had not encountered artificial intelligence, VR, and drones before his release:
«I haven’t seen drones, I haven’t used VR, I haven’t interacted with AI. All of this is a new world for me. But what’s even more incredible is that I’m free again.»
Against the backdrop of statistics on arrests for drug possession (only 870,000 in 2023), the situation with Ulbricht is causing outrage among human rights activists. He ran a platform through which tons of drugs passed, at least six people died from overdoses, and at the same time was released earlier than many convicted of minor offenses.
Ulbricht has not yet announced any plans for prison reform or fighting for prisoners' rights. Instead, he promises to «give thanks to the crypto community.»
As we previously reported, as part of the international special operation RapTor, law enforcement officers from 10 countries detained 270 people who were trading drugs, weapons, and other prohibited goods on the darknet. Over €184 million in cash and crypto, as well as huge amounts of illegal goods, were seized.
