Trump vows to set Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht free if he wins another term

In a bold move, Donald Trump, the former President of the United States, has made a firm promise to grant a presidential pardon to Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht if he is re-elected in the upcoming November election. Speaking at the Libertarian Party’s National Convention in Washington on May 25, Trump confidently stated, “If you vote for me, on day one, I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht.” He expressed his determination to bring Ulbricht, who has already served 11 years, back home. Silk Road, the first modern darknet market known for its Bitcoin-based payment system, was established by Ulbricht in 2011. Under the username “Dread Pirate Roberts,” he operated the platform from his personal laptop. However, the laptop was seized by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation on October 1, 2013. Ulbricht faced multiple charges related to Silk Road’s operations and was convicted in a U.S. federal court in 2015. As a result, he received two life sentences plus forty years, with no chance of parole. Trump also took the opportunity to address his pro-crypto stance, which marks a significant shift in his previous stance on digital assets. He assured his audience that he would prioritize the development of crypto and Bitcoin in the United States, aiming to prevent them from being driven overseas. Furthermore, he pledged to protect individuals who choose to hold their crypto assets outside centralized exchanges, emphasizing his support for the right to self-custody. In a notable departure from his previous remarks during his presidency, where he referred to Bitcoin as a scam, Trump adopted a different tone and vowed to keep Elizabeth Warren and her associates away from the Bitcoin holdings of the nation’s 50 million crypto owners.