Ross William Ulbricht is an American libertarian political figure and entrepreneur. He is a former darknet market operator famous for creating and running the Silk Road Market from 2011 until 2013. After founded the Silk Road, he called himself the ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’. Ulbricht attended the University of Texas at Dallas to study physics after growing up close to Austin, Texas. Later, he enrolled at Pennsylvania State University to pursue a master’s program in materials science.
He was trying to create an economic simulation to give people a first-hand experience of what it would be like to live in a world without the systemic use of force. The “Silk Road” became popular in no time when plenty of media outlets picked up stories on the market, the interest grew and traffic increased. It became a marketplace where illegal and highly unlawful activity occurred and it was used by over 100,000 users who bought and sold around $200 million worth of illegal goods and services.
Ross Ulbricht was found guilty
Ross Ulbricht was found guilty after the Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FBI) investigated the site users. It led to the identification of Ross Ulbricht as the founder and owner of Silk Road. He was arrested and the FBI seized his laptop and found that the Silk Road generated over $13 million worth of Bitcoin in commissions and another 144,336 bitcoins from a shared digital wallet. These bitcoins were sold in a series of auctions which helped generate proceeds that were worth $48.2 million.
The trial was highly publicized and a charged event with the presiding judge reportedly receiving death threats from Silk Road supporters. However, it was never proven. Before the sentencing of Ross Ulbricht, in a letter to the judge, he stated that the Silk Road was supposed to be about giving people the freedom to make their own choices. On May 29, 2015, he was sentenced to two life imprisonment terms plus 40 years of jail time.
Ross Ulbricht tried to appeal and pardon
Ross Ulbricht attempted to appeal but the United States Court of Appeals denied his attempt. He then in 2017 appealed to the Supreme Court and his attorneys argued that his case involved unresolved constitutional questions regarding the digital age and the Fourth Amendment. However, the court declined to hear his case in 2018.
In 2020, national media reported that former president Donald Trump was considering reducing Ross Ulbricht’s sentence but no actions were taken at that time. Many have signed an online petition created by Ross’ mother to commute his double life sentence. He was sentenced to two life imprisonment terms in additional to 40 years to be served concurrently without the possibility of parole.
Did Trump save Ross Ulbricht from dying in prison?
On January 21, 2025, President Donald Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, and this decision to free Ross Ulbricht after nearly 12 years of incarceration gave rise to mixed opinions from the public. Ross Ulbricht was accused of distributing narcotics, conspiracy to aid and abet computer hacking, trafficking fake IDs, laundering money, and engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise.
All of this arose out of his creation of an online marketplace, Silk Road where sellers and buyers could anonymously exchange payments for products, even illegal ones. While Ross Ulbricht’s life sentence was considered excessive by some, others believe it was just.
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Conclusion
It seems that Ross Ulbricht, who was convicted of running an anonymous online drug marketplace, became a hero to crypto-holders everywhere. The federal jury found him guilty on seven charges even for conspiracy to traffic narcotics. As a result, he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. However, in 2025, President Donald Trump decided to pardon him. There has been a controversial opinion regarding the punishment of Ross Ulbricht’s life sentence.
A large group of Libertarians protested that his sentence was too harsh and many others defended Silk Road as a free market experiment. On the other hand, the FBI and DEA investigated and brought charges against Ross for creating and operating an illegal marketplace like Silk Road. Anyhow, the FBI had shut down the Silk Road website shortly after Ross Ulbricht’s arrest by seizing 114,336 bitcoins.
