Ross Ulbricht, the founder behind the Silk Road marketplace, has broken his silence on social media since the recent US election, sharing a glimmer of hope that President Donald Trump might follow through on a campaign pledge to reduce his sentence.
Currently serving a life term without parole in federal prison, Ulbricht’s post on X on November 12 expressed optimism about his release after Trump’s election win.
During Trump’s initial term in office from 2017 to 2021, Ulbricht’s supporters urged the administration to consider a sentence reduction. However, the appeal went unanswered, even after Trump’s 2020 defeat to Joe Biden. At the Libertarian Party’s National Convention in May of this year, Trump – then campaigning to reclaim the presidency – publicly committed to granting Ulbricht his freedom on the first day of his return to office.
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The possibility of Trump acting on his promise has stirred mixed reactions within the cryptocurrency and blockchain communities. Some supporters remain optimistic, while others question the reliability of Trump’s commitment, pointing to analyses such as PolitiFact’s report, which noted that Trump fulfilled or partially fulfilled around 27% of his campaign promises during his first three years as president.
Ulbricht’s journey began in 2011 with the creation of Silk Road, an online platform that became infamous for allowing anonymous users to buy and sell drugs and other illegal items. This quickly attracted federal attention, and in 2013, the FBI apprehended Ulbricht and permanently shut down the site.
By 2015, he was convicted on multiple charges, including drug trafficking conspiracy, money laundering, and computer hacking, resulting in a life sentence. He is now held at the United States Penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona.
In other news, FTX has filed a lawsuit with claims directed at Binance and its former CEO, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. Why is the company targeting Binance and CZ? Read the full story.
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