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Congratulations to Ross and the Ulbricht Family! After twelve years, ROSS can finally be with his loved ones, especially his MOTHER who has always been fighting for HIS freedom. Thanks to President Trump for keeping the most important pre-election promise for a person who was losing hope.

January is in two months. It will be such a headline when he is out.

Next pre-election promise to keep - Fire Gary Gensler.

If Trump can get him out, then maybe all he promised during his campaign can happen, some of it probably. Gary Gensler's tenure will end this year or the next as I read in some comments. I guess it won't make a difference if he fires him or just lets him go in peace and finish his term.  

But yeah FREE Ross, 12 years seem too much for what he did. I'm starting to believe they are still trying to squeeze the private keys of Ross's wallet that's why he isn't pardoned.  ;D

Not sure if it is going to be positive or negative for the crypto world. Ross was imprisoned for running darknet website Silk Road which was actually selling narcotics and many other illegal stuffs. So I think that is life imprisonment is quite valid. He was running a criminal enterprise.

I am not sure if Trump will have any executive power to dismiss the decision made in a court. But if it happens, I will hope that Trump will fulfill his other promises he made before the election.

I'm pleased to hear this. We can say Trump is a man of his words, he wasn't just acting like other politicians just to win votes, hope he meant everything he says. Now let's see what he does to make American great again and about that annoying man Gary Gensler.

Ross was a person who wanted to help people, anytime "someone" spoke with him, through Silkroad contact, he was always graceful and offered too much help. But this was very early on. He saved "someone" who fucked up during the first visit. : ;)

He didn't  deserve what happened to him.

Ross, you deserve reparations. Hope to see you on this forum to inform us of the treatment you received, and maybe see if we can get a "go fund me" if you lost all.

If Trump really releases Ross, Bitcoin will soar.      8)

The site was used to sell drugs, but he was not the seller. He only allowed others to do it. If you don't understand what the whole fuss is about, the penalty for selling drugs as first offense is under 15 years.
The man got life for allowing other people to do it, which should carry a lower sentence, just like lending someone your gun so he can murder a person will get you a smaller sentence as if you did it yourself.

Just do some research if you aren't sure  8)

The president of the United States is authorized by the U.S. Constitution to grant a pardon for a federal crime. The other forms of the clemency power of the president are commutation of sentence, remission of fine or restitution, and reprieve.[1] A person may decide not to accept a pardon, in which case it does not take effect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_pardons_in_the_United_States

Would believe when it happens.
Not a fan of drugs and not really a supporter but Ross case is evidence that the government can't bode well with decentralization.
I would love to see how Trump would allow regulations made by people that 'loves' Bitcoin without jeorpazing decentralization.
Is compulsory KYC going to be abolished? Would he pardon mixers?
If he can free Ross, There's a likelihood he might, again might fulfil some of its promises but...... Let's see.

Let us not celebrate yet, until Ross Ulbricht gets the presidential pardon from Trump and returns home to his family after almost 12 years in prison. I am sure the community will put pressure to ensure Trump keeps true to his word.
Things don't work like that, it is unrealistic to think that kyc would stop being compulsory for centralized services or that the government will suddenly become friendly to BTC mixers or privacy in general.

This will undoubtedly be positive news, since if bitcoin3 was associated with the darknet, the sale of prohibited items and Ross Ulbricht, then Ulbricht's rehabilitation will automatically rehabilitate bitcoin (partially) as something "only associated with negative things" in the eyes of ordinary people.

He personally sold all this illegal stuff? I think this is an exaggeration, comparable to statements from the tabloids, which is a bit strange to hear from an old forum user.

Systemically, he was no different from Bezos, since he was not running a criminal enterprise, but an online trading platform. It's almost as if you were the owner of the premises and rented it out to a fruit and vegetable seller who sold illegal goods without your knowledge. You are not responsible for what this seller does, because you are only renting him the retail space.

It should also be noted that if Ross Ulbricht is soon released, then this is a sign that his punishment with life imprisonment was unjustified and excessive. Otherwise, if he was really guilty, everything would remain as is.

Well let see its because right now this is what people look for, many are now watching him to perform or implement those plans he said to people. Allowing Ulbricht to get released would indicate that he is true to his word and also a good sign that his really for Bitcoin now.

So again lets follow up for more update regarding on this case since many people really believe that penalties given to that unfortunate guy is to much and many think that he already serve his sentence in prison.

Also reading this article written by coindesk https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/11/07/donald-trump-more-likely-to-pardon-jan-6-protestors-than-silk-road-founder-polymarket/ rise up the curiosity and discussion about what possible next step will happen in future.

I read some short descriptions at https://freeross.org/ and see
It is a shady area for law interpretation and enforcement, and I know it is not how government see it, but if it is a reason for Ross Ulbricht to be free from prison in January 2024, how about mixers' founders and operators who were arrested and imprisoned?

They can be free too, but I really don't think Ross Ulbricht will be a case law in mixer industry. Governments globally don't like mixers and they will do everything to ban mixers and put mixers' founders and operators to jail.

It's logic that mixers are for everyone, privacy is for everyone, basic human rights, but it's hard to fight and get privacy back from governments.

Did Trump mention Ross Ulbricht after he won? I haven't kept myself updated, but I haven't observed any kind of excitement or something like that on social media about Ulbricht's release. Surely, there must be one if Trump indeed reaffirmed his commitment to release Ross on "day one" of his presidency.

However, there's nothing to be grateful to yet. It was a promise made while campaigning. It was certainly done to gain the votes of Bitcoin supporters who have always been fighting for Ross' release. But until Ross gets out of prison, that remains a pledge. A politician's promise, however, is often unfulfilled.

Thats pretty huge that he even promised that from the start. It is cool seeing how Trump will pardon folks who have even made significant progress or aided the development of this highly advanced and modern technology aka Bitcoin. What will Ross do when he comes back and will he continue to play a role in Bitcoin in the future? I wonder what his welcoming home will bring back into the space.

Trump promised to free Ross Ulbricht months ago in a Bitcoin Conference 2024 in July this year.

President Trump Repeats Pledge to Free Ross Ulbricht (7/27/24) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMYJYi9-Keg)
Trump Pledges to Free Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht If Re-Elected (https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/05/26/trump-pledges-to-free-silk-road-creator-ross-ulbricht-if-re-elected/)

People thought that it is one of his tools to buy votes from Bitcoin community and maybe more cryptocurrency communities. We will know that he will actually free Ross Ulbricht after his Presidential Inauguration Ceremony in January 2025.

Uhhhhh Is this real, If so I cant wait for that hahahha Mr Gary already been a fire for the crypto community I don't know how much people get rekted because of this person hahah. Anyway, Congrat for the Ross Ulbricht.
But I am still wondering tho is there any list that Trump promises haha

What about the Ross bitcoin are the Us seized them all?

Frankly I highly doubt if Trumpalini will even remember Ross.
Personally I think he should remain in prison for running silk Road.

While I get your point, he only created a website with the intent of launching a truly Free Market.  A truly Free Market means no Censorship and there should be no exception to the rule.  Otherwise it becomes not so Free.

Now there are obviously other details to his case and I am not saying he is 100 percent not guilty, but I think we should not forget that all of us have the right to innocence unless proven guilty and, if you ask me, the way his case was handled is kind of weird at the very least.  It rather seems like he was framed than any thing else.

Not to mention the excessively large punishment he received for only launching a website.  I hate Craig Wright but I would not punish him or consider him a criminal for creating a Shit Coin with a Blockchain containing illegal stuff posted by other people.  He is a criminal for other reasons, but not this one.  Same with Satoshi creating Bitcoin which really can be used for Crime and no Bank or Authority could say no to such a Transaction because it is Free.  However, Satoshi is not to blame for that.

Trump can barely remember what he said minutes ago, much less what he said in July. I am sure there will be donors staying in touch with his handlers to remind them to put the papers on his desk. We're still waiting for Hillary to be locked up so I wouldn’t exactly be holding my breath expecting anything to happen. Campaign promises are worthless.

Is this sarcasm or what? I don't see any official announcement where Ross Ulbricht will be released in January, it's just a hope for Donald Trump will release him.

It's not easy as that if you read this article https://fortune.com/crypto/2024/08/06/trump-says-he-would-fire-sec-chair-gary-gensler-on-day-one-its-not-that-easy/

I think Gary Gensler didn't make a fatal mistake which can bring him to get fired instantly, high likely Trump will say it's under progress and we have to wait for few years.

Depending on the urgency of the promises that he has mentioned. If this is an urgent matter and important to him, he'd probably do that by the time he becomes the POTUS again.

For Bitcoin to soar, we have to see Gary get out of the SEC. They'll do better without him and the Trump administration better get rid of the obstacles including him.

Why is this being celebrated? He was not imprisoned illegally. He committed crimes, and the court found him guilty. His release, however true, is not something that should be celebrated simply because he's your favourite. What kind of society are we if we start celebrating the release of criminals or celebrating when they evade the law? It doesn't make sense.
He was found guilty of seven charges, and two of those charges alone should result in a minimum of 15 years in prison.
We see this a lot with celebrities when they're charged. People just rally behind them without stopping to think if they're actually guilty.

I don't know how possible it is for Trump to release him because he can't overrule the court, unless its some sort of a presidential pardon, but even at that, certain factors are going to be met first.

I am upset that Trump won the US elections, but I do think that Ulbricht should not be in prison. I sincerely hope that Trump won't forget his pledge and will issue a pardon to free Ross. Ross getting arrested is actually how I found out about the existence of Bitcoin. It was big enough news to attract the attention of the media internationally in times when cryptos weren't actively discussed. I'm sure his release will be major news if it happens.

Ross Ulbricht received a double life sentence and 40 years in prison without parole. He's already spent 12 years in prison, which is a very long time. Especially for someone who has never killed anyone. I hope Trump will keep his promise and free Ross Ulbricht. But I'm not optimistic about this. Trump has been president for 4 years before and he hasn't taken any action on this issue. Why would he do it this time?

The hope is founded upon the man's promise, a promise that was made publicly. Trump was president for 4 years, but Ulbricht's case wasn't special to him back then. It probably wasn't within his radar. In the first place, he was anti-Bitcoin at that time.

This time, it's different. He has already taken a U-turn, made pronouncements in support of Bitcoin. He strongly pledged in front of Bitcoin supporters that he'll release Ross on "day one".

This is now a waiting game. But, as history has taught us, a politician's promise should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Discussion about Ross Ulbricht time in prison and possible release is complicated.Some people think he was treated unfairly and should not be in prison while others believe he was found guilty of seven serious crimes. If he is released from prison it is important to remember how serious his crimes were. We should not celebrate his release without thinking about harm he caused.His case has big implication for law and any decision to pardon him would need to be thought carefully. Normally presidential pardons only happen under certain condition and only apply to federal crimes not crimes at state level.To have smart conversations about justice and accountability we need to understand details of Ulbricht case and what his release would mean.

OK, let's see what he was charged actually according to Wikipedia:

- "engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise"
- "distributing narcotics"
- "distributing narcotics by means of the internet"
- "conspiracy to distribute narcotics"
- "conspiracy to commit money laundering"
- "conspiracy to traffic fraudulent identity documents"
- "conspiracy to commit computer hacking"

First, a lot of these charges are quite redundant. Basically they convicted him for 1) drug dealing, 2) hacking, 3) money laundering and 4) "traffic fraudulent documents". And he probably didn't commit the crimes himself but tolerated them.

In most countries, none of these charges would give you more than 5 years, with the exception of drug dealing if it's related to gang violence. But ok, the US are special, they love their draconian punishments. They're one of only of a handful of developed countries retaining death penalty, and most developed countries also don't retain life imprisonment without parole.

Even 12 years is FAR too much for these charges. Life imprisonment is totally ridiculous, and without parole even more.

If Trump however was serious about that problem, he should convince his fellow Republicans in Congress to change the criminal code and lower the prison sentences for these charges. I don't exactly see a high probability for that, though.

If it is actually like this, he should be freed after 12 years in jail. Among the convictions he got, I see the worst one is with drug because drug addiction is always bad and it can destroy a person life, kill him or her and also brings lot of terrible effects to their families too.

Trump promised to commute Ulbricht’s sentence on “day one” (https://cointelegraph.com/learn/donald-trump-and-ross-ulbricht-presidential-pardon-for-silk-road-creator) and soon we will know what Trump does with Ross Ulbricht case.

I don't know but in many nation, Presidents have rights to set prisoners free. Probably it will be the same in the USA and Trump can do it for Ross Ulbricht if he sees it is a right thing to do. Further than that, like you said, if Trump wants to change criminal code, laws, it will be different thing that is bigger than just freeing Ross Ulbricht as a specific case.

Didn't they already seized Ross's bitcoin when he was arrested? I remember that it was auctioned off at a really cheap price or that's a different bitcoin that got seized that got auctioned off. I guess there's some form of sympathy out there for dealers instead of the users, capitalism at its finest. Imagine the first thing that he does is do some stupid shit all over again, there's no way that the court of public opinion is going to let that slide.

It was clearly a tactic to get much of the votes from the bitcoin community and also clearly it has helped him have the victory on the elections hehehe. On being optimistic or not on this, I reckon Trump might get some difficulties on the pardon because it will not be a simple process very much on what he said that he will fire our favorite SEC chairman uncle Gary hehehe.

Donald Trump must have mentioned Ross Ulbricht here, and the pledge crowd chanting for a free-for-all is hilarious. 
Because Ross Ulbricht has been in prison for a long time I certainly think he deserves to be released from the sentence now, because the screams and shouts of the audience must have created a mesmerizing atmosphere.

Video link: https://youtu.be/rlyDIVHC7iM?si=vrfqQIDmJjQ4x24v

Cybercriminal Ross Ulbricht was jailed for life in 2015. Recently we saw on social media Twitter that his family mentioned that he will be released next January.
https://x.com/Free_Ross/status/1854560687713927541?t=KQWHKG8OEx3qb3oJkSoV1Q&s=19

They think that maybe Donald Trump will help Ross Ulbricht get out of jail. Maybe we don't know how honest it is. Because when Donald Trump was first elected president of the United States in 2017, he did not take any steps to get Ross Ulbricht out of jail. But now that he has taken steps to get Ross Ulbricht out of jail, is he taking this step to win his election.

Over the years, I shake my head whenever I see any "freeRoss" campaign. There are actually innocent people in the US prisons who are actually innocent. Not like all of them are innocent entirely for they're innocent of the crimes they're in prison for. Research has shown that 4-6% of prisoners in the US are innocent of their crimes and even if you don't believe in this percentage, you can't argue with the fact that there are actually people who have been imprisoned unfairly for rape and murder.
Where are there no campaigns for these people? Simply because they're not popular.

Talking about reducing his sentence is one thing, releasing him is another and celebrating his release is a whole different thing.
It is because of people like these that Bitcoin has a bad name. This man created the Silk Road, which was used to trade all forms of illegal things anonymously, and all payments were made in Bitcoin. If anything, this alone should make the Bitcoin community against him because he's a bigger problem to Bitcoin than the politicians.
A federal agent found a way to infiltrate the site and became an admin on Silk Road, so they built a solid case around him. It's not like they were throwing bullshit charges on him. If you say a life sentence is too much for his crimes I might agree, but money laundry, distributing narcotics, computer hacking, and engaging in a criminal enterprise (in fact, he owned the criminal enterprise) should get you 15 to 20 years if we're being fair.

Now I'm going to talk about the part nobody likes to talk about.
Would he be shown this much love if he wasn't white? I mean, will Trump give 2 shits about him if he was a black man? This was the same man who immediately put ads out in newspapers for the death penalty to be returned to the state immediately after the central pack five were arrested.
After these boys served 10 to 13 years for crimes they did not commit, they were released after a man confessed to the crimes, in 2019 Trump still stood by his statement during that time that the boys were guilty and that they already confessed. A confession proved to be coerced out of the teenagers.
So why is such a man who doesn't believe people that people who have been proven innocent by the court after serving a decade for crimes they didn't commit is ready to release a man the court and evidence deemed guilty?

I do think that him being in jail is justified and valid but maybe life imprisonment was too much. Crypto enthusiasts praised Silk Road because they think it was really the official start of crypto being legitimized in platforms as a currency. So, I get why they would admire Ross Ulbricht, but it is too much for us to ignore that he did in fact do illegal things which warranted him getting jailed.  

Maybe crypto enthusiasts think that his imprisonment is longer solely because there was crypto involved and that theory is not lost to me but he is still a criminal who has conducted criminal activity with or without crypto.
He would just be free of prison but would not be absolved of any of his crimes. and yes Trump can pretty much do anything so long as he wants to do it.

This isn't very clear to me. The tweet from his family is confusing as we don't know if they already spoke to Trump after his win or if they are trying to call his attention public and remind him of his promise.

The only advantage of this is not on Bitcoin but on Trump. That is more popularity aside this nothing may happen to bitcoin's price unless if in a public broadcast on this issue Trump mentions Bitcoin.

As for Ross, I guess he'd write a book, give few public lectures and advocate for the release of others who are truly illegal imprisoned for their involvement with Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

Firstly, this thread is supposed to be moved to the politics and society section of the forum because even though Silk Road was used by Ross Ulbricht as a medium to make bitcoin transactions on the site but i don't think that this discussion is related to bitcoin but rather about a probable pardon that Donald Trump want to give to Ross William Ulbricht after he has already spent 12 years in prison upon being convicted to double life imprisonment including 40 years jail term.

For me, even though Donald Trump promised to release him but i feel that his charges are too severe for the government to consider granting him pardon and besides, people are just exaggerating about his possible release in January when Donald Trump will be inaugurated but we should also have it in mind that it's not all campaign promises that will be kept. Finger crossed till January... But whether he is released or not, it doesn't call for overexcitement.

Looks like that tweet expect Trump will deliver his promise, rather than it'll happen in January. After all, https://freeross.org/ (https://freeross.org/) doesn't make any statement about it.


Actually there are campaign and organization which specifically aim to free those innocent people. If you use keyword such as "organization wrongfully convicted" on Google, you can find few of those. Although i admit mention those are less frequently discussed or supported on social media.

Before Trump promised to commute the jail term of  Ross Ulbricht, I am sure he was aware of his crime. I don't think he deserves the punishment and I know it will not be a big deal to get him out if Trump has the willpower to do it. The process of getting him released might take some time, so we might not be expecting him released by January. We expect Trump to keep his promise and start the process as soon as possible.     

No doubt about that and I feel all this promises he's trying to fulfill is a strategic attempt to make people forget or not pay too much attention if he doesn't get to be able to finish the rest of his campaign promises.

Sarcasm from who? Me? Or the Ulbricht Family's post in X? It's not sarcasm from me, and why would the Ulbricht Family post that Ross is going home in January if they didn't believe that it will happen?

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The U.S. president-elect may have given the Ulbricht Family a call and assured them that Ross will be going home in January, no?

Maybe this article would give information regarding on his situation https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2024/11/08/cybercriminal-ross-ulbrichts-family-says-hell-be-freed-in-january-heres-what-we-know/

Now people wait for that promise to happen and we maybe could see if that promise is true if we able to hear another news that Ulbricht is finally out of the prison.

To many promise made by Trump and let see if he could able to make this one to happen.

Ross Ulbricht family have reasons to believe in Trump's promise and keep up their hope. Trump has yet taken over the White House and in about 70 more days, he will be there after his Presidential Inauguration.

Will Ross Ulbricht be actually freed out of prison next year in January or even later months?

Soon we will know about it and I remember that in one rally, Trump said with a man (maybe a dad) of a dead soldier, that he will lead investigation on reasons behind that death. But he emphasized that he will not do it on Day One, because he already had a lot of things for Day One. Let's wait for what Trump will do and how many promises he will keep to complete for his supporters in many rallies before the Election.

I wish this was true, however during his first election campaign he praised many people such as Wikileak's Julian Assange but never pardoned them. He also never pardoned Edward Snowden although he revealed the secret operations of what they refer to as the "deep state", and which Trump's team claim they despise.

I hope this ends well for Ross, and it gives me a bit more confidence because this post was twitted from his account.
It was about time for this to happen after he spent 12 years in high security prison for creating a website.
However, I have reservations until I see official confirmation from officials and/or president.

It was not just a website... His site facilitated the sale of illegal drugs and other substances. He was fully aware of that and in fact built the site for that express purpose.

He deserves to remain in prison for the full terms of his sentence.

when it comes to politics, and their pre-elecct promises..  never celebrate a pledge until you see it happen
wait untill ross actually stands outside the prison before celebrating..

alot of trumps promises never came true in the past. trump has many times promised his investors that he was rich and successful, but then filed for bankruptcy.
even after pledging to build the wall, the wall is not complete 4 years later..

so if you want to pretend its a sure thing, and a sure thing to happen in january..  then you have too much faith in a fake tanned bleached hair old guy in politics

but lets see how many promises he actions or fails at, starting with how soon after the january 20th swearing in that it takes ross to get to see the outside of prison
(personally i dont see ross as a good face of bitcoin as im anti drug, anti hitman hiring.. but no one was murdered and he didnt personally use a needle in other peoples arms, so 12 years is a bit much for just running a service promoting drugs)

...

side note, it would be funny and a good poke if biden releases ross before january 20th just to make it so that it wasnt trump that got to do it,

Yes, this is a major problem too. There are lots of campaigns for these people, but here we're in a Bitcoin forum and thus here the focus is on Bitcoin-related issues.

Even if my preference indeed is that the draconian US sentences should be generally reduced (see last part of my other post), I don't see why one shouldn't be allowed to celebrate the release of a person convicted to an extreme sentence.

A release could actually raise awareness about the problem of extreme sentences. There is of course the danger that people concentrate too much on the single event (in this case Ulbricht's release), and thus I actually don't completely disagree with you on the matter. There should be a more general discussion about the issue.

Silk Road had actually some terms of service: they didn't allow weapons, abuse imagery and items to defraud other people on the platform (stolen payment means etc.). Basically the main products were drugs. There are lots of countries currently re-evaluating if the drug ban makes sense if on the other side you have far more deaths due to tobacco and alcohol, which are among the most harmful drugs. One can also sustain the opinion that people who want to harm themselves should be allowed to and should not be criminalized.

So I don't think that really Ulbricht was the main reason for the "Bitcoin is for criminals" slogan. I believe malware has contritbuted a lot more to that perception. Bitcoin ransomware is a newer phenomenon and afaik malware was also not permitted on Silk Road (I never used that platform, just to clarify, just judging from media and forum discussions).

I disagree here. Sentences over 10 years should only exist for violent crime (murder, rape, mutilation, genocide ...). And in many countries this is actually the case, even if some also include treason and similar crimes into the "near-life sentence" crimes, which is also bad imo.

That's also why I don't have much hope that there will be really a discussion about the problem of extreme prison sentences under Trump, so I partly agree here. I generally don't believe the support for Ulbricht from Bitcoiners has racist origins though. He's just a quite well known figure.

There are lots of "legal" things which are much worse than illegal drugs, including "legal" drugs like alcohol and tobacco which kill literally millions per year and governments often even cooperate with the lobbyists of the companies making profits with these products. But that's just my personal opinion.

Agreed on the argument. However, he is being given more attention not because he is innocent, this is because the American government and the mainstream news media created a very big storyline about the Silkroad and Ross Ulbricht that he is the most evil devil from hell which clearly is fake news. The government created their own horror story.

Also on more people in prison that are innocent, do not bring race in the argument because this is not the fault of Ross. This is the fault of the American justice system.

about time!!

Could you please refer to any print media? I don't want to rely on tweets right now. I don't want to rely on just promises. I want to see Ross free and then I will believe what they have said. It's 10th November already and we are not too far. We will have to wait 50 more days if this is a piece of true news. But, before hoping for all this, I want to see some official statement from Trump.

I won't say I like Trump a lot. I do not like politicians. But if some of them help Bitcoin, help humanity, and help stop war, then they will have my support and love. I hope Trump will think about the war happening in the Middle East and other sides of the world.

Edit: Never mind. I found some news.

I'm more excited on this one than Ross being released. :D

Kidding aside, I'm excited with both events and when this happens, expect a surge in the price of Bitcoin and that includes the top altcoins as well. What I see now is that every fulfilled promise by Trump will have a positive effect towards Bitcoin hence, an increase in price might happen. Nevertheless, it's been 12 months since Ulbricht has been on jail.  On the flip side though, this is just a random tweet coming from a random handle hence, I'm not convinced that Ross will be released 2 months from now.

Although I believe that he will since Trump promised it, I guess it would be better if Trump himself, or some trusted officials out there will be the one who will make the tweet, right?

At this point, Trump would have too much reputation to lose by not freeing him; Ross has too large a following for it to slide under the carpet.

So I think we can bet Ross will be free from hell in couple months.

You don't need the "news". That post is directly from an account owned by some from Ross Ulbricht's family, perhaps his mother. It's straight from the horse's mouth. The "news" will come from what the Ulbricht Family will have to announce, and therefore if they announce that Ross is not coming home in January, then that's "new news".

But they probably received a call from Trump before they made the post in X.

so you nor others know for a fact....
.. then its not a fact, thus not newsworthy to use them as a source of fact

they are just wishful thinking much like others based on (1) trump empty promise pledge (2) trump winning election

where they put 1+2 together and hoping it =3 when they are not realising (1) could be empty gesture of just ()=0

Ser, it's not that I got the "news" from a middleman. It's straight from the horse's mouth. In your personal opinion, OK, you can say that it might not be "newsworthy". BUT how can you actually say that it's not newsworthy for me or other people in BitcoinTalk?

It might be wishful thinking, or it might also be a phone call received from the president. This is what the Ulbricht Family said,


Why would they say that Ross is coming home in January if there wasn't an assurance from "someone"?

People have been questioning the intergrity of politicians to keep their campaign promises after they win, now Trump, has an opportunity to proof that he is a politician that keeps to his words. Although I don't think that there is an official pronouncement from the trump, team about the release of Ross Ulbricht, but we're hopeful that it will happen. Next stop for many bitcoiners is about Gary Gensler, but from what I understand his tenure is almost rounding up, so one way or another he'll be moving on soon. Our main concern as bitcoiners is for favorable regulations towards Bitcoin during Trump's administration. America, is like the big brother when it comes to global matters and their government being pro Bitcoin will go a long way for it globally.

Bro.

Nothing has been done yet.

I want Ross to be free as much as the next guy, but hold off the celebrations until he actually gets pardoned.

I do not trust promises from Trump. I want to see this happen first before I celebrate.

(It might help that RFK Jr. the libertarian is in the cabinet now, so maybe he might remind Trump in case he forgets, but I will not jump to conclusions just yet.)

That's the thing. Politicians are saying a lot when they are trying to be elected. It wouldn't be the first time some empty promises were made but once the election is over it's all forgotten.
Hopefully in this case Trump or whoever will have this decision to follow through will keep their word and make it happen. 12 years is more than enough for what happened there. Sure he did it, and that's a fact, but they way they handled the whole situation was very questionable, and I mean VERY.
Anyway, in around 2 months we and especially the Ulbricht family will know more. I hope all their hopes and prayers won't come crushing down.

He made a website that allowed people to sell whatever illegal stuff they wanted to sell. He was aware of that, but does that mean that every person aware of a crime being committed should be charged for that crime? Let's say you know your neighbor is selling drugs and you do nothing. One day they knock on your door, he gets 10 years, you get 2 for not snitching. Would that be fair?

The way I see it, the sentence is too high, especially since first time offenders usually don't get life for similar crimes, even in the US.
Here in the EU if I were caught with drugs, I'd get suspended sentence. Caught selling? Probably a year if it's first time. Possibly an ankle monitor for a year, depending on the amount of drugs I'd have on me.
Caught selling a lot, like a truck full of drugs? That's 10 years maximum, no matter how much you're moving, as long as it's your first time.

Silk road actually carried out illegal business that led to the attention of FBI. Drugs trafficking is a terrible crime and building a website that facilitates the sell of hard substances and keeping them anonymous is breaking the law. But in Ross' case he received a greater punishment, placing him on 2 life sentences without Parole (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace)) is an unfair judgement.

He deserves a chance. That's why his team have been fighting for his freedom. Also the thousands of Bitcoin seized on the site is also with the Authorities. If Trump pardons him, the Bitcoin community will quite appreciate his kind gesture.

the family are not posting a tweet to say that trump has signed an order and its happening.. they are posting a tweet about the HOPE that he will fulfil the promise. they are reacting to election result not any signed executive order

again, take a reality check. trump has not signed any executive order, nor wrote any pardon, nor petitioned the prison/court to commute the sentence..
so he cant be guaranteeing the release

also the tweet makes no mention of any phone call to the family.. that is just your fantasy

all the family are doing is reacting to the election result.

i do find it funny that you think after winning the election the first thing you think trump wants to do is phone a family of a prisoner, when odds are the first thing he would rather do is phone up the nearest strip club and hire the top talent on the dance stage to celebrate with him

Politicians are mostly busy people, especially presidents and governors, That's why they have aides whose jobs is to remind them of things they ought to do. Trump is a great person and will make America great again.

Why does it make him any less of a criminal? He created a marketplace where people were selling drugs, were hiring hitmen and were spreading a wrong adult content. He knew that his market was used for that purposes, it's not like he was a believer of free market and didn't have a clue about all the dark things that was happening on his website. Yes, freedom is good but that kind of freedom doesn't bring any good to the society.

If you lend a gun to a murderer and you know it, you are more criminal. That's how I perceive it.

And that's stupid. That's basically a market without laws. What do you think about absolutely free world where no one gets punished for killing anybody? Do you vouch for such a free world where there is an absolute freedom? I don't get it why so many people advocate for him. And don't understand ever more, why Trump wants to free him and why was that a positive promise during election.

What is the update on this speculation that the Donald will pardon Ross? Does everyone speculate that the Donald will keep this promise? This will be very headshaking and will be very much a comedy if he does not keep this promise hehehehe.

In any case, we already have another crypto pardon speculation! This is sleepy Joe will pardon the 2nd biggest political donor to the Democrats Sam Bankrupt Fraud heheheh. This will for certain be a comedy if this occurs.



Historically, political donors and their affiliates have received significant advantages in terms of convictions and pardon considerations. Take Marc Rich, for example. The infamous oil trader evaded at least $50 million in tax back in 2021.

However, Rich was pardoned by Clinton on his last day in office. The pardon was controversial because Rich’s ex-wife Denise was a major Democratic donor. She contributed significantly to Clinton’s presidential library and the Democratic National Committee.

Similarly. Paul Pogue, another convicted tax fraud, was pardoned by Donald Trump in 2020. Reports suggested that this was due to Pogue’s family donating over $200,000 to Trump’s campaign.

So, given the historical controversy of political donors being more likely to receive clemency, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to assume that Sam Bankman-Fried might be on President Biden’s radar.

Read in full https://beincrypto.com/sam-bankman-fried-pardon-bidens-decision/

No surprise if that happens. I already predicted he'd break that promise.



No. Let him rot in prison.

Lol😂.. Though it sounds funny, but you are absolutely right on what you just said above, regarding what the first thing Trump would do to phone of an alledge cyber criminal immediately after he gets sworn in as the 47th President of the United States of America in few weeks time, January 2025. Because we all know him been a man who loves enjoyment and probably own a private club in his residential home "Mar-a-Lago" in palm beach Florida will definitely hire top talent on the dance stage to celebrate with him, which is perfectly normal. But however, let's see what the outcome will be, as January 2025 is not far anymore.

ross wasnt just arrested for running a website.. and it wasnt about purely using bitcoin.. ross also had allegations of hiring hitmen and other illegal enterprises, so lets add this funny plot twist(for satire)
what if trump contacted ross(in prison) asking him to hire a hitman(in prison) to hit the kid(in prison) that attempted trumps assassination, whereby ross will get pardoned only if the deal is done by jan 5th

Maybe the people who want that man to be released from prison perceive the same man as some kind of fighter against the system or something similar - and what he did was definitely against the system and the law. This is a big absurdity, because it is undeniable that his "creation" made a lot of bad things possible, but it obviously doesn't matter to people (especially in the US) what that man did, because drugs, murders and weapons are something they live with every day.

Mr. Donald just listens to what the crowd is shouting and uses his power to fulfill their demands. One man who should be released from prison is nothing compared to all those votes he secured with that promise.

I think that those people are very delusional. Yes, that man went against the system and the law but that doesn't mean it's a good thing. Laws aren't bad, they are necessary but the problem is that the government itself doesn't protect the law and many people find it irritating but that doesn't mean that we should obey those laws. He made website purely for generating millions of dollars through that marketplace. Was he checking each batch of drugs that were sold on his website? No, he simply didn't care. To my mind, drugs are the only thing that shouldn't be punishable but that's a different subject.
The government bans guns selling but does someone really think it's good if we obey that law? The less people have the gun, the better for everyone's safety. It was also possible to hire a hitman on his website. This guy was not a good guy, he definitely had serious mental problems and was super greedy. Even in illegal businesses, people should have some morale and rules.

Yes, he does whatever brings him votes and that's very sad. Populism is never a good idea because the crowd is never smart and following their directions will only lead to failure.

Agreed that this will not be a surprise, however, I will admit that this will be very disappointing. I am declaring disappointment not because I like Ross or for Ross to be free. I will be disappointed because there will be no drama, comedy and action hehehehe.

I am also declaring disappointment if the sleepy Joe will not pardon Sam. I will give the same reason hehehe. I want drama, comedy and action, however, this pardon of Sam will very much be a comedy.

He will break it, most probably. Trump will have a lot of things to do on "day one" if he fulfills his campaign promises. That includes commuting Ulbricht's sentence.

I don't trust politicians when they make promises. I don't trust them more if the promises are made when courting voters. It's an extreme case of naïveté if one believes in their promises while campaigning.

But, as always, they have a reason to justify their inaction, delays, or breaking of promises.

Even we sometimes break promises to our relatives and friends, so there is no need to be too upset or too harsh with the promises made by politicians. Nobody is perfect and as you said as the president of a country they have more important things to do than just focus on the not so big and not so important things. Instead, we should focus on bigger promises and more important issues. I believe crypto policy and his attitude towards the crypto industry are much more important than whether he commutes Ulbricht's sentence. So far, although he has not officially become president, but through the news we can see that he is actually more open to the crypto industry and that is a good sign for us. 

Just because he couldn't deliver on 1 or a few campaign promises doesn't mean he's a bad president, look at the big picture when it comes to politics.

Unfortunately, if the US is a mirror of the world in terms of democracy and human rights, then the world's moral compasses have completely gone haywire - because if people want to be led by a man who should spend a long time behind bars for everything he has done, then that is not something that should be considered normal.

What's even worse is that other leaders will see this as an incentive to do the same things - so why even have a judiciary and impose punishments, if there is one man who can overturn them with a single signature?
 
Still, this is not something the new president should be blamed for, because the one who is still in power is doing the same things - which means they are all the same, and the only difference is how well or poorly their brains function - because instead of young people leading the world, people who already have one foot in the grave are being appointed to positions.

Not exactly. Mr. Donald listens to what the crowd is shouting and uses this hype to increase his rating and strengthen his power. In the year when bitcoin is in the favor and recognition of the USA, any topic related to cryptocurrencies will go to PR of the USA, as loyal to crypto. The story with Ross is a purely political move, and not the fulfillment of demands for the sake of the crowd.

This freed man will bring him many more new votes, because this man is, in a sense, a symbol of the BTC-community (even if it has a negative connotation). You'll see, Ross will still be invited to the White House for a cup of tea. This topic will be exploited as long as it increases the president's rating.

That's big politics. At that level, nothing is done without some benefit.

You are mistaken in thinking that politicians follow the crowd.

If we speak of moral compass, we can certainly very much be certain that all of them do not have a compass that points north. There are politicians that are better in hiding this than others. I argue, name 1 truly good politician and the world can name 1000 more or 1 million more evil politicians who have a broken moral compass or no moral compass.

In any case, these politicians are elected to be our entertainers and I wish sleepy Joe will entertain us by giving Sam a pardon before his term officially has ended hehehehehe.

So are we going to hold this new government to their campaign promise or what?

Does Trump plan to pardon Ross, or was it all just BS (as usual)?

have to wait another 10 days to see him swear in.. and then find out his master plan after that

There are unconfirmed posts in X that report that Ross Ulbricht has been pardoned after 11 years in prison. Trump didn't keep his promise. He pardoned Ross Ulbricht during the second day. Trump promised that the pardon will be on the first day. https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/6yxkca3aae7.jpeg

I won't post any links in the topic until the posts are confirmed true. They're probably spreading mere disinformation like those people that do that in the forum.

I also read about the news some minutes ago. I wanted to post about it before I saw that there's already a discussion thread for it.
Yes, there's a 98% chance that Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the confiscated darknet marketplace known as the US President-elect grants the Silk Road a full and unconditional pardon.
Although, this happened a day after as he promised, at least he did it, and I have been expecting it ever since Elon Musk tweeted (https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1881524296386031892) about it some hours ago.

Let's hope he keeps his promise about Bitcoin strategy reserve.

Yeah, I've just seen on X that Ross has been given and I quote "full and unconditional pardon" by president Trump. This is one down, many more to go in the lists of promises he made during his campaign.

Here's the link: https://x.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1881853092309999648/photo/1

I'm curious, does this event where Ross Ulbricht will be pardoned affect the Bitcoin market? Let's say for example the price of Bitcoin.
As we all know, how Ross Ulbricht was involved in Bitcoin during the early days.

We can't say yet. The news of Ross's release or pardon might send the Bitcoin community into a frenzy to the point that it might affect Bitcoin price but that's not something we'd be depending on so let's just watch and see.

I do not think that it will affect the market, hopefully though, if there is, then it should be positive for Trump,

Here is the official documents from Rand Paul

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2025/01/22/WImJ5.png

https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/1881826046661800090/photo/1

So let's see how it goes, everything looks good for Ross and obviously, everyone will be happy if he is freed.

I believe the "market" has moved on from Ross Ulbricht and the Silk Road. If you ask the new Bitcoiners if they heard of Ross Ulbricht or the Silk Road, they either would tell you that they don't know, or if they know they don't care about it.

Plus Bitcoin is currently in the investment plans of nation-states very large and asset managers like BlackRock. It would he laughable to forecast any price movements based on Ross Ulbricht's pardon.

[quote author=BADecker link=topic=5517327.msg64715173#msg64715173 date=173100767
It's normal matter that the price of bitcoin will rise due to Ross inextricable association with bitcoin.

The market has bigger fish to fry, and all eyes are on what you said essentially - institutions going viral for Bitcoin and everything related to it.
I too think that's the case, but the news is good.

It's very VERY GOOD. In fact, and I'm very confident, that he's one of the top happiest man in the WHOLE WORLD today.

There's probably no better feeling than to walk out from a high-security prison as a free man after locked in that place for ELEVEN YEARS.

Look at that smile, and that PLANT! That plant is probably as happy as he is.

https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/4jdcvkmdml4.jpeg

President Trump grants a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, founder of Silk Road. The move reignites debates over justice, Bitcoin's role in early adoption, and sentencing fairness....well let's be watching what will happen in few days coming.

 https://btctimes.com/trump-grants-full-pardon-to-ross-ulbricht/

 https://x.com/BTCTimescom/status/1881873841489674253

What would you await for?
The man is happy, most of the public is happy, what else to attend?

11 years was really a lot but considering he got life in prison it was a nice discount. Sure what he did/provided was wrong but sentencing a young guy without priors that hard really is crazy. As much as I think that Trump is a strange dude, at least this time he didn't disappoint and came through after his promise, well done.
Hopefully Ulbricht has some funds hidden away so he can enjoy the good life now.  ;D

Justice? The judge who sentenced Ross Ulbricht gave him a life sentence without parole because he is "white". Is that "justice"?



It was a campaign promise made to the Bitcoin Community and the Libertarian Movement which helped him win the election. He SHOULD keep it. Although yes, it's understandable that people should be cynical of politicians. But the promise of giving Ross Ulbricht a pardon I NEVER doubted after his family posted in X that they're son will be coming home. Read OP.

What I am about to write will certainly not be met with approval, but it is still my opinion.

Probably a lot of people think that Ross was a person who did something for BTC, but is there anything positive in the fact that he enabled people to anonymously sell drugs, weapons and carry out various other illegal activities? Maybe the life sentence was excessive, but I think he deserved every day he spent in prison.

Given that Comrade Donald frees those who participated in the coup d'état and who bloodied their hands in it, one criminal more or less does not make any difference.

Do you know what the only difference is between comrades Donald and Putler? Both release criminals and murderers from prison, only the latter sends them to the battlefield - and who knows, maybe those 1500 savages will also go to the Mexican border to beat migrants.

Ross was imprisoned for nearly a decade for the crime of creating the silk Road.A sign of the great deed of piting Roos and forgiving him is the changing of people.

A lot of people might think he should still be in jail, but he just made a website that people used in nefarious ways. He shouldn’t do life for that. The people who used to ddos banks and were the original members of “Anonymous” were all given ultimatums, either jail for the rest of their lives and their family put in a database to deny any sort of assistance like loans for anything or work for the Government. They all work for the Government now regardless of who is President because they are part of CIA and Feds. Most are sub contractors for private companies hired by the government. So why shouldn’t this guy get another chance.

His punishment is more than the crime. I personally think he is being held captive because I see no other reason to steal his wealth.

Great news indeed. I was worried that it all could be just an election talk and that Trump may forget about him later on. Not only did that not happen, but Trump even called Ross's mother to inform her about signing the pardon. Really nice move.

I wonder what's next for him. With the fame and recognition he probably won't end up working a regular 9 to 5 job. I just hope he does not stoop as low as to create his own meme coin  ;D.

He said he did it in honor of the Libertarian Movement which supported him "so strongly" but IMO Ross Ulbricht should thank Elon Musk too because Trump had never talked about him during his first term. So that's a bit surprising to make it now. Musk even said he was with Trump in the Oval Office when he signed it.
Well I hope for the market Ross won't sell all his Bitcoins in the next few weeks now.

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/113869112741612092

Does anyone know all confirmed forum accounts used by Ross?
It would be very cool to see Ross Ulbricht coming back to bitcointalk forum and writing few comeback words here.
I wish him all the best and recovery to normal every day life after spending 11 years in prison.

I'm not aware of all of them, but considering this[1] post from theymos, allegedly, the account altoid (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3905) belonged to him[2]. Apparently, he also had an account on Stack Overflow as well[3].

---

[1]https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=881488.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=881488.0)
[2]https://archive.is/WGtWF (https://archive.is/WGtWF)
[3]https://archive.is/igUtH (https://archive.is/igUtH)

There was this post today on the Wall Observer showing some of the other aliases he had used on the forums (not just this one) grabbed from a wiki page:

But I have known him shown as the Dread Pirate Roberts or DPR for short and they used this moniker for the countless movies made of his story over the years.

This post back in 2012 states he was Pirateat40 but not confirmed:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=106563.msg1171838#msg1171838

I know some people took this news with anger and hoped for Ross to rot in prison.  I do not support many things Trump is doing or has done in the past.  But I can not deny it.  To me, this is great news.  Ross is FINALLY free!  He is finally NOT going to be stamped by the State as an example for everybody else who wants to be Anonymous or to run away from all the dirty things Governments do.

I can not imagine how it feels finally being behind the fence of a prison you knew very well you would spend your last breating minutes in.

-----

This sounds kind of selfish, in a lack of a better word to describe it.  You 'enabled' the sale of drugs, weapons and various other illegal activities by actively promoting Mixers instead of actively promoting and supporting Centralized Exchanges with clear filters for incoming UTXOs that help block funds of criminals.  How about that?

Being the one who has a free mind and wants to invent a completely free Market is not the same as having a criminal mind and wanting to sell drugs, weapons and do Money Laundering.  As I am sure was also your case, where I presume you only wanted to promote a way for people to further improve their Privacy while using Bitcoin.  Other people had a criminal mind and used or promoted Mixers for illegal purposes.  As is the case for most things that are less controlled.  It used to be the case for Telegram and still is for the most part, it still is the case with Tor and small communities of ill minded people actively browsing Onion websites with content they should not be browsing, owning, uploading or distributing.

Also, whether Trump is good or bad has nothing to do with who is Ulbricht and what he has done or the kind of person he is.  Does it make you a criminal if Trump states tomorrow that 'Lucius, the Bitcoin forum guy, is a really cool dude'?

It also does not mean that if somebody did 100 bad things, they cancel the 1 good thing they have done.  In my sole opinion and based on my knowledge on this case, Ross Ulbricht did not deserve his sentence.  Trump may have used this pardon to cause more hype for Bitcoin, for the scammy TRUMP Token, for who ever knows what.  It is however healthy to judge Trump or Putin and Ulbricht separately, particularly considering there is no evidence of having any links and particularly considering the case of Ross has many caveats and unanswered questions.  And many of these questions are about the way the case has been handled.

nope pirateat40 was a guy named trendon shavers (dang even that tipbit of info is still rattling in my head without needing a google search)


personally i think a pardon "coz bitcoin" wouldnt be justice served. as he did other crimes, even stuff trump is wanting to bring back the death penalty for for mexican cartels that do similar promotions of hitmen and drugs..(organised criminal services)

alot of people think because they use bitcoin, they become immune to all other crimes... EG counterfeit passports are not illegal if bought with btc. class A drugs are legal if using btc(facepalm), and deserve instant pardons 'coz bitcoin'.. but sorry folks crimes are still crimes no matter how you got paid for it

but that said. 12 years compared to the 2life sentances+40 seems more fairish for operating a market place rather than being the actual hitman/dealer.. i woulda probably said DPR should stay a little longer if trump pardoned him in 2017, but i think now, 12 years is probably enough

Kind of crazy to think ross's freedom was essentially tied to an election.  It was a one and done chance.  I think trump is the only one who would follow through and pardon someone like ross.  There isnt much reason for a polititcian to release someone like ross so good on him.  Happy for his family and hope the dude does something good with his second chance.

I'm agnostic, and I respect all honest opinions from this matter. Plus I truly agree that he should spend time in prison for doing something illegal. But we can't take away the FACT, not a mere opinion, that he built something very useful for Bitcoin, and something which truly embodies what Bitcoin should actually be - A censorship-resistant asset that can be used for filling gaps in the market, and make them more efficient.

Because if it wasn't Ross Ulbricht, I'm very confident another person would build the first Dark Market site. It's an obvious use-case for Bitcoin, and technically a very good one.

We won't find the details about what were the conditions for it to happen behind the curtains, but yeah, cheers for him and his family.
He won't be a symbolic figure that suffers for all the Darknet anymore.

Silk Road wasn't an "everything goes" darknet marketplace. Items that cause real harm, like weapons, child abuse imagery or stolen credit cards, were banned, and I think Ulbricht and his co-operators deserve credit for the enforcement of relatively strict rules. 70% were drugs according to Wikipedia.

I'm not in favour of consumption of (most) illegal drugs and I know that they can do harm in many situations, but their danger compared to legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco is greatly exaggerated (deaths by alcohol/cigarettes largely outnumber those by any other drug). I'm thus of the opinion that it should be allowed to privately trade drugs, e.g. via the Internet.

There is even research pointing out that online drug trade reduced violence associated with the drug business, e.g. the often deadly competition of gangs and dealers for neighborhoods (e.g. see this paper (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2436643)).

In any case, I oppose prison sentences for anything unrelated to real violence, and life sentences for Silk Road is such a gross aberration that I think it is a human rights concern.

Thus, I think I consider this is Trump's only positive action as president until now, and in reality I had hoped Biden could issue that pardon when still in functions. I agree with you that for everything else Trump is very close to Putin and other autocrats and that he's generally a detestable, hateful and dangerous person.

I know about altoid account, but it's very name is showing this is alt account from someone.
He probably used other accounts in bitcointalk forum early days, but he can always create a new account for his comeback.
However, if I was Ross I would not think about that after spending so many years in prison.


 

If that were to be allowed, then Bitcoin would lose some of its use case/reason for existing, and the Dark Markets would lose all of its customers.

But because the government wants to control EVERYTHING, banning ANYTHING they don't like, and gatekeeping MOST of the wealth, then censorship-resistant tools such as Bitcoin and other cryptographic tools shall be a means to bring real social and political change.
  👍

According to the LinkedIn page of Ross Ulbricht's e-commerce site Silk Road in 2011,  Ulbricht envisioned the site as a “means to abolish the use of coercion and aggression amongst mankind.” (https://www.ccn.com/news/silk-road-ross-ulbricht-release-date/) That's why he made his site accessible only on the dark web. There, he created an opportunity to buy and sell various goods through cryptocurrency, where there was no need to use paper money. But the FBI shut down his site, accusing him of being involved in various criminal activities, including illegal things like drugs, illegal weapons sales, and smuggling etc, through this site. Although such allegations were made against him, he denied them. What I understand is that his insistence on getting out of paper money and becoming independent was an important issue.

I think there was no logic in keeping him in prison life time for these crimes. There are many big criminals in society who are involved in various illegal activities, but they are not given such punishment. But why only Ross Ulbricht? He has returned from a long stay in prison. I hope he has a good time with his family and he will do good deeds in the future.

^ Every story like that has to have its sufferer in the end for the public eye, it's not uncommon.
But I digress, let the man rest.
No matter what was done behind the backs of the public, he got his lucky ticket.

I totally agree with you, starting from not supporting Trump for many things until the idea that they wanted to make an example out of Ulbricht because let's be honest, his verdict was totally crazy, extremely exaggerated for what he did, especially when we think about people like SBF who actually ruined many people's lives. Trump promised it to the crypto community and he delivered it.

In our world, many people deserve to be in places we don't want to be, but those who are not - are doing what they did and would never face consequences for it. Such is the truth about it.
Great to see that Trump delivered on what he said.

it is crazy to think even from ross' perspective i mean what could have been 11 years of prison time thinking you will never see the light of day until a new president comes and personally orders you to be freed that must have felt crazy and relieving at the same time
i disagree this was of course still a political move from trump he wanted the libertarians on his side and ross was basically jesus for those part of the libertarian movement as well as those involved in crypto since libertarianism advocates for limited governance

whatever his intentions were, it is good to know that trump fulfills his promises and we can expect him to stay true to his words

The sentence was not only absurd but a clear violation of the US Constitution's mandate against cruel and unusual punishment.
If it could happen to Ulbrecht it could happen to anyone and sets a terrible precedent.

The judge and prosecutors responsible for such a heinous sentence and egregious disregard for the highest law of the land ought to be arrested and imprisoned themselves for treason IMO,
or at the very least removed and disbarred. This shit should never happen again and the only way to assure that it won't is to hold the authorities in charge of it accountable.

And fuck Obama for not doing something about it when he had the chance to release him sooner. He is part of the problem.

I disagree a bit here. Censorship resistance is not only useful to defend yourself against abuses of the State or government, even if this is of course one of the main advantages.

Take the well known problem of banks cancelling the account of people who don't contribute enough to their profit -- a form of "financial censorship". With Bitcoin, nobody can "cancel" your account. Some may blacklist your address but there will probably always be someone who accepts your coins, as long as they aren't related with a known crime.

It is also none of anybody's business to know which drugs you use, even if it's legal to use them -- for example, in well-known dystopic literature your health insurance company may be interested to know that, to be able to increase your monthly contribution if you take certain recreational drugs. And banks could, in this dystopia, provide information to this company, while on a dark market you are able to hide at least some of your steps. Thus, dark/private markets for drugs will also be an option if no legal restriction exists, just to protect you from abuses of private companies you depend on.

Ross posted a short video on X earlier today. Apparently, he has already been released (I thought it would take a bit longer). He's obviously thanking Trump for sticking to his word and signing the pardon as he promised prior to the elections.
https://x.com/RealRossU/status/1882609887878029519

We all like stories with happy endings, but let's not lose focus on how corrupt and simply unjust the justice system can be.

And with that, there the support for Ross Ulbricht is outpouring. Kraken exchange donated a cool $111,111 to him.

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2025/01/24/Wh1ol.png

https://x.com/krakenfx/status/1882145752303993342

So I guess it's lucky to be a 'criminal' now. Anyhow, did Kraken win you over (against Coinbase) with this move?

They also published the donation address (and donation page supporting multiple cryptos) and the balance is now over $286k, so that's a nice boost.
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/bc1qzrkdfpc4dxyyg6axvstft7sx8vhgverhvyv82y
+ there might be more from altcoins donations.
Still, he spent like 12 years behind bars, so it's hardly a good deal.


They won me over much earlier. Kraken has had an excellent track record from the beginning, while Coinbase has had its ups and downs and, I believe, still has one of the highest fees.

Lol, i don't know if it is a good idea to publicly donate to him, people can easily get the wrong message by doing so. However, i completely support the pardon handed down to him by president Trump. Two life sentences plus 40 years for a non-violent crime is as crazy as it gets, he ran a darkweb marketplace and people used it to commit crime, yes that is an offence, but not worthy of that kind of harsh sentence.

I am actually surprised by all this celebration and momentum that the so-called Ross is enjoying. Currently, he is making headlines as if he were a movie star or one of the major global influencers. What is striking about Ross's story is that no one cares that this person is a criminal and is accused of establishing a network to facilitate, sell, buy and transport illegal substances such as drugs, weapons and other materials. The judiciary did not only sentence him to life imprisonment afaik, but two life sentences with an additional forty years without the possibility of parole. These are serious sentences issued according to a conviction file and research conducted by the authorities within the framework of their protective role and not because he uses Bitcoin as some may think, which no one really cared about at that time.

Why do not the families of prisoners in drug and weapons cases demand a pardon for their sons according to the same formula, or should they have used Bitcoin in his early years?

I don't think Trump is that supportive of crypto or that he is really enthusiastic about releasing the oppressed (in his opinion), so I don't blame him much as he only think about winning more electoral votes, but I wonder how the American judicial institutions and public opinion can allow such a historical farce.

Even if he was "a criminal" and has disobeyed the law, the sentences are grossly exaggerated. I know there are countries in South-East Asia for example where drug offenders face life imprisonment or even death for the "crime" of harming themselves. But the US, supposedly, is a first world state which has been (in the past) been a promoter of human rights. So I won't compare the US with countries with dubious human right records.

And as I wrote in another post, weapons weren't allowed on Silk Road. Weapons were allowed on another platform Ulbricht participated building but later it was closed.

I agree with this part of the post. However, for me (without being an expert) it looks like the Ulbricht sentence was made to set a precedent and scare those wanting to create similar platforms. In the Anglo-American judicial system (Common Law) a court decision can influence other decisions. While a pardon isn't a sentence, it could open the debate about cruel punishments for relatively minor offenses again.

And also it could open a debate about about responsibility on unmoderated platforms where people can pay with Bitcoin. My opinion is that if these platforms make a serious effort to ban violence (including things like child abuse), like Silk Road did, they should be allowed to exist.

The power to issue pardons must be justified logically and not based on emotions. I was surprised that I did not hear any objections to the decision to pardon Ross, but I quickly understood the matter. The Republican Party supports Trump, whose popularity has increased, and no one will want to discuss his decision, even behind the scenes, as long as no one is harmed. The Democratic Party did not oppose Biden when he issued a pardon for his son regarding corruption cases and economic and financial crimes, so it does not have the courage to discuss Trump’s decisions on this matter. Civil society believes that Ross’s sentence is unjust and violates human rights, and that he has served enough of his sentence and deserves a pardon.

Who would opposed the pardon? Trump is the most powerful man in US for sure people would obey what he want to happen. But also I think he already serve his sentence and the penalties he get is to much.

The more intriguing issue is that Biden giving a pardon to his son and they should not question if there is Trump decide to fulfill his promise to release Ulbricht.

With actions done by Trump for sure it increase more its popularity and Democrats are losing appeal to people due to what they have done especially on last minute decisions made by former President.

These decisions to pardon and drop charges against criminals who have been proven guilty by the judiciary or defendants whose cases are still in the investigation and trial phase cannot be justice practice by any mean. Yes, they are constitutional decisions that cannot be discussed in their compatibility with the US constitution, which grants the president power to issue pardons, but their use in this manner cannot be the reason behind the creation of this law.

Democracy is one of the methods of fair governance, but it can be misused in various ways in clear manipulation of the contents of the laws and their effectiveness. As I explained in my previous comment, as long as no one complains, there is no problem on the surface, but this does not mean at all that this is what should really be done because it raises issues and problems that are much deeper than just the story of a president issuing an order to pardon one person.

It's laughable that people would try to find "something" in anything. It's either that they're merely fretful, or they were probably disappointed that what they expected didn't actually happen.

  8)

President Trump made a campaign promise to the Libertarians that if they help him win he would give Ross Ulbricht a pardon. He kept that promise and the fretful people were actually disappointed that he honored his word in this instance. Those fretful people would probably be complaining in a more motivated way if the promise was broken.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If they don't like Trump - it would be like that regardless of his actions.
That's their opinions on him for ya  ;D

Congratulations to Ross and his family. I don't know much about him other than the public fact that he ran silk road. Happy to see ross finally free being that he was one of the early adopters of bitcoin that showed that Bitcoin can be used like every other currency on the planet even with the additional benefits it has.

One more person I'd like to see free is the founder of tornado cash. Fingers crossed.

People should definitely be agnostic about those sort of things. I personally neither like Trump, NOR do I hate him, but speaking from a non-biased viewpoint, I believe his actions on Ross Ulbrict and his intention to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve are positive for Bitcoin as a whole, if you ask me.

BUT I'm not saying that he's a truly good person, or that he has not done anything questionable. Because the truth is, NONE of us in the world are truly good.

Rough day for Ross… Looks like he made a mistake and lost $12,000,000. Not the best first week out of prison.

https://x.com/arkham/status/1884976064717365367

“ ROSS ULBRICHT LOST $12M ON PUMPFUN...

Ross Ulbricht, or someone with access to his wallets, just accidentally nuked the price of a pumpfun coin sent to him while trying to provide liquidity on Raydium.

Because he initialized the liquidity pool at the wrong price, $1.5M of the token (5% supply) was instantly taken by a MEV Bot, then sold into the existing pool.

Then he did it again and he lost another $10.5M. (35% supply)”

What is happening now in the United States is a very bad application of this constitutional article, as we find Democrat Biden issuing a pardon in favor of his son, who is involved in financial corruption and conflict of interest cases, and Republican Trump, who issued rulings only because his fans supported him.

What will happen in all these cases? Simply put, all charges were dropped, including open cases as with Biden's son. Who is supposed to protest? The opposition parties (Democrats) are benefiting and involved in the same practice, and civil society has no voice in the face of the president's popularity, regardless of his party.

Will Trump really support crypto? This may happen, but not by issuing a pardon for criminals whose crimes have been legally proven to be punishable.

On one hand I have to give it to the orange man and give him his props for sticking true to his word.  I guess it's really no skin off his back, but the fact of the matter is he did stay true to hi word and that had to stand for something.

I am still not sure how I feel about Ross being released.  I am ALL FOR an open capitalistic society, less rules, less laws etc, but there's some very questionable things that I've either heard about him or know to be true that makes me wonder if he really deserves it.  Just not sure.

And what Biden did could affect their whole party as he really made a bad decision on end point of his term this is the list of his mistakes https://www.yahoo.com/news/joe-biden-makes-one-last-223947188.html made which provably people would remember.

I guess this is part of his desperate move as he know he won't get any seat anymore. I guess there's nothing to do now in that cases since clemency has been awarded already. What current government could do is to monitor the movement of those people if they create another crime so that they can immediately stop this people.

With current happening right now we can see that Trump is really supporting Bitcoin there's no question with that now especially that they already made some good movements to honor their promises. On the case of Ulbritch being pardon again same with those people being pardon by Biden government also need to monitor his movement if he goes back on those past illegal activities done before or he would live a new life after he serve his sentence in prison.

It is pretty crazy that he ended up getting pardoned by a US President! You definitely can't blame the POTUS for keeping to his campaign promise. I bet you there will be a movie made about Ross and the silk road at some point in the future. I wonder what Ross will do next, with this new found freedom and lots of $$$$ and BTC

These irresponsible actions represent a doubt on the credibility of the entire judicial system and render it completely ineffective. If some consider Ross to be unjustly punished and not deserving of a harsher sentence than the years he spent in prison (I disagree with this view), pardoning Biden's son is to some extent a crime because he is accused of financial crimes that have not yet been decided.

Anyone accused of financial cases that are equal to or less dangerous than the charges against Biden's son has the logical right to demand a pardon as well. The problem, as I explained earlier, is that there is no party demanding a review of the issuance of pardons in this manner that only serves the president's personal interests and not the interests of the country.

I believe the BitcoinTalk Community forgot to greet someone. 8)

A belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ross Ulbricht!

It's very good to see someone truly ENJOY his second chance in life. We, who take our freedom for granted, will never know the feeling of what Ross Ulbricht is currently feeling - unless we're also locked behind bars. 👀

BUT I would rather have ignorance than to actually know in this instance.

For the BitcoinTalk Community to congratulate someone, doesn't that someone need to be on the forum?

After gaining freedom, Ross could go to bitcointalk, even from a new account (if there is no access to his previous old account) and write a few words, because this forum, even in the past, had great significance in his life. Isn't that so?

The pardon tool in the U.S. is completely abused at this point. People celebrate Ross Ulbricht like if he was jailed because he was a BTC supporter. The guy was jailed because he run a massive operation facilitating drug and weapons sales and because he tried to hire someone to kill a competitor. Not a good guy, and quite the opposite.

Someone just purchased Ross Ulbricht prison ID card for 11 BTC in auction!
Someone would say this is overpaid, but this is a piece of history and donation to Ross.
On the same website Ross posted few more oh his ID cards, items he used, and his prison paintings.

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2025/05/31/UXsIDC.jpeg
https://scarce.city/auctions/prison-id-cards-id-3-2024

Ser, the link to his X account from where he posted is literally right there, you quoted it. The point was to congratulate him there.

Plus because Ross Ulbricht is a KNOWN individual, then no, congratulating him doesn't need to be in BitcoinTalk. That's merely my personal opinion.