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According to a landmark and controversial action, US President Donald Trump has granted Ross Ulbricht, the original of the infamous dark internet platform, Silk Road, total and unconditioned pardon. Ulbricht, who had been incarcerated for life with a date (without parole) of 2015 and federal parole, was granted parole on the back of the pardon.
Silk Road, established by Ulbricht in 2011, operated on the Tor network, facilitating anonymous transactions primarily involving illegal drugs, hacking tools, and counterfeit documents, all conducted using Bitcoin. At the time of Ulbricht’s arrest in 2013, the platform had nearly one million registered users and processed more than $200 million in illegal activity.
[President Trump] made the announcement on his Truth Social platform, claiming he had told Ulbricht’s mother that he had pardoned him. He also objected to the prison sentence length of Ulbricht, calling it “folly” and imagining that Ulbricht’s accomplices had also taken government action against him.
The pardon has been met with mixed reactions. Libertarian organizations and cryptocurrency supporters, who for a long time have not respected Ulbricht’s case as an illustration of government tyranny, welcomed the ruling. The platform which has been campaigning for Ulbricht’s release, the Libertarian Party, greeted the pardon as a victory against oppressive statutes.
Critics, on the other hand, complain that the pardon directly contradicts efforts to fight cyberspace crime and the illicit activities carried out on the internet. They express concern that such a move could set a precedent, potentially emboldening others to engage in similar illicit enterprises. Legal commentators have pointed out that although Ulbricht’s platform represented a cutting edge in the application of cryptocurrencies to criminal activities, it at the same time created enormous challenges for law enforcement agencies around the world.
The attorney for Ulbricht expressed thanks for the pardon, noting that it finally addressed a serious wrong. He emphasized that Ulbricht had already served over a decade in prison and that the pardon would allow him to reintegrate into society and contribute positively.
This pardon is part of a catalog of pardons that President Trump has already given at the beginning of his second term, and reflects his office’s perspective on criminal justice reform and provides hints of policy changes in criminal cyber law and cryptocurrency law and policy.
