Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road darknet marketplace, announced on Thursday that he will make his first public appearance since being released from prison at an upcoming Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas.
“It’s official. I am excited to announce that I will be making my first public appearance and speech since my release from prison at The Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas,” Ulbricht posted on X.
Ulbricht’s announcement comes just months after US President Donald Trump granted him a full and unconditional pardon through an executive order signed in January.
This move fulfilled a campaign promise Trump made during the Libertarian National Convention in 2024, where he pledged to commute Ulbricht’s sentence on his first day back in office.
Ulbricht’s Silk Road Dream Ended in a Historic Federal Sentence
Ulbricht had been serving two life sentences plus 40 years without the possibility of parole. He was convicted in 2015 on seven charges for operating Silk Road, a marketplace on the dark web that facilitated the sale of illegal drugs and services. The site processed over 1.5m transactions worth an estimated $213m, all conducted using Bitcoin.
A physics graduate and early advocate of Bitcoin, Ulbricht had envisioned Silk Road as a libertarian experiment in free trade. In his personal writings, he described a desire to create a platform where users could buy anything anonymously without government interference.
However, US prosecutors argued that the platform enabled widespread criminal activity and undermined public safety.
Ulbricht’s Post-Prison Role in Crypto World Gains New Visibility
Ulbricht was arrested in 2013 in a San Francisco library. He later admitted to creating Silk Road. His case quickly became one of the most high-profile prosecutions in cryptocurrency history. It drew both criticism and support from across the political spectrum.
Since his release, Ulbricht has remained engaged with the crypto community. In February, he publicly advocated for clemency for Roger Ver, a prominent Bitcoin investor facing serious tax-related charges.
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