Why Trump Pardoned ‘Silk Road’ Founder Ross Ulbricht

On his second day back in office, President Donald Trump issued a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of dark-web marketplace Silk Road. Trump had pledged to free Ulbricht as part of a raft of promises made to the cryptocurrency community while on the campaign trail.

The president announced the move in a post to his Truth Social platform, saying he had called Ulbricht’s mother to inform her it was his “pleasure” to sign the pardon “in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly.” Libertarian activists have long argued Ulbricht’s sentence was an example of government overreach.