Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road darknet marketplace, remains a controversial figure in cryptocurrency history. While his role in revolutionising Bitcoin’s use has long been debated, recent developments have brought his name back into the spotlight.

Ross Ulbricht is free, but unproven allegations against the Silk Road founder overshadow his well deserved pardon in some corners of the internet.

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.

Console Wars’ duo Jonah Tulis and Blake J. Harris have conducted more than 60 hours of interviews with Ulbricht, who became a cause célèbre among libertarians and cryptocurrency enthusiasts after being handed two life sentences.

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.

In 2015, a 31-year-old yoga enthusiast from Austin named Ross Ulbricht was found guilty of being the online drug kingpin “Dread Pirate Roberts.” Convicted on 7 counts, the judge sentenced him to life in prison. Trump pardoned Ulbricht on Tuesday and now he’s a free man after more than 10 years in custody.

Those who convicted Ulbricht were "some of the same lunatics involved in the modern-day weaponization of government against me," Trump wrote Tuesday.

Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 on charges related to his website, where users could buy and sell drugs and other illegal goods with bitcoin.

Ross Ulbricht’s story has become a cornerstone of crypto history. To many veterans, he represents the raw, unfiltered ethos of Bitcoin’s early days: radical

Blockchain data for crypto wallets operated by the Free Ross campaign showed more than $270,000 in donations for the Silk Road founder’s reintegration into society.

Technically, Donald Trump broke his campaign promise by not freeing Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht on day one of his presidency. (No, inauguration day is not “day zero.”) But as I explained in my previous Take, I wasn’t expecting a literal first day pardon anyways. Even day two exceeds my expectations. Trump delivered, and I’m very glad he did.