Ulbricht, who was convicted of running an anonymous online drug marketplace, became a hero to crypto-holders everywhere. What does his pardon signal for the future of the technology?

The president granted the unconditional release of the online drug impresario as a favor to libertarians and cryptocurrency partisans.

Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was given two life sentences in 2015, thanks President Donald Trump for giving him a "second chance" with unconditional pardon.

Ross Ulbricht’s first hopes for clemency died when a mob of Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Trump had planned to commute the life sentence of the founder of the Silk Road online drug bazaar at the end of his first term,

Until, of course, in 2013 the Silk Road was shut down by FBI agents and Mr Ulbricht, then 29 years old, was arrested in the science-fiction section of a San Francisco public library. In 2015, after a four-week trial,

Donald Trump has offered a flurry of pardons since taking office earlier this week, including one for the Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht.

In 2015, a federal judge in Manhattan sentenced Ulbricht to life in prison for drug trafficking, computer hacking and money laundering.

"Donald Trump is a man of his word," the Silk Road founder said in a video published on X hours after release from prison.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison for running an underground online marketplace where drug dealers and others conducted more than $200 million in illicit trade using bitcoin.