Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, currently serving life in federal prison, posted on X for the first time since the United States election to express hope President-elect Donald Trump would fulfill a campaign promise by commuting his sentence.
In a Nov. 12 X post, Ulbricht said he could “finally see the light of freedom at the end of the tunnel” for his time in prison after Trump’s election victory.
The Silk Road founder was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole following a 2015 conviction for money laundering, computer hacking and conspiracy to traffic narcotics.
Source: Ross Ulbricht
Ulbricht launched the Silk Road marketplace in 2011, which soon drew attention from US authorities for facilitating the sale of drugs and other illegal products.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested the Silk Road founder and took the platform offline in 2013. He is currently housed at the United States Penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona.
In his first term as US president from 2017 to 2021, Trump did not commute Ulbricht’s sentence, despite pleas from advocates for the Silk Road founder after the Republican lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
However, speaking at the Libertarian Party’s National Convention in May, then-candidate Trump pledged to ensure Ulbricht’s freedom “on day one” if elected.
Some crypto users are skeptical of Trump’s intentions
Many crypto and blockchain advocates have been calling for any US president to pardon Ulbricht since his conviction, but some were skeptical that Trump would keep his promise to the Silk Road founder.
The Republican reiterated his pledge in a pre-election social media post, but PolitiFact reported in 2020 that Trump only kept or partially kept roughly 27% of campaign promises during his first three years at the White House.
“I don’t trust Trump,” said Franklin in a Nov. 12 reply to Ulbricht’s X post. “He already had 4 years to free you but dropped the ball.”
Among Trump’s other campaign promises to the crypto industry included firing Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler - which he may not be able to do without cause - having all Bitcoin “made in the USA,” and blocking the US government from developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
During his first term, Trump said that BTC was “not money” and based on “thin air.”
Trump met with President Biden at the White House on Nov. 13 as part of the process to take office in January. Reports suggested the two men anticipated a “smooth” transition.
