Trump promised to release Ulbricht from prison by January 21, 2025.
He's the one behind the Silk Road dark web market. When he was arrested, he had 144,000 bitcoins, worth $28.5 million at the time. Now those bitcoins are worth over $10 billion! Where did this money come from? It was accumulated by charging a 10% fee on every transaction on Silk Road.
When the FBI came, they not only shut down his website but also seized all his bitcoins, some of which were even stolen, with North Korean hackers joining the fray.
In the end, the federal government reached an agreement with those who misappropriated the bitcoins, using them to compensate Ulbricht's $183 million debt to the government. Most of the bitcoins from Silk Road went into U.S. courts and were slowly auctioned off by marshals. Some are still in the government's possession, awaiting legal proceedings.
Ulbricht lived a double life, running a dark web operation while dealing with the law. His supporters argue that the sentence was too harsh, especially since he never committed any violence, and the prosecutor dropped the murder-for-hire charges.
In prison, he couldn't access the internet, so he communicated with the outside world through his mother's Twitter account. His mother, Lyn, has been working hard to secure him a lenient sentence, hoping the president could reduce his sentence rather than grant a pardon, allowing him to leave prison while still retaining his conviction.
She even started a petition on Change.org, which has gathered over 600,000 signatures. Those who signed believe that if Ulbricht is released, he would not commit any crimes again.
Lyn has also sold Ulbricht's artwork through a nonprofit organization, raising $765,000 for drug rehabilitation and prevention, and helping recently released individuals reintegrate into society. The hand-drawn art Ulbricht created in prison was turned into NFTs and fetched seven-figure prices at auction!
The bitcoin wallet listed on the website contains 0.14959432 bitcoins. Donors have also contributed other cryptocurrencies: 881 Dogecoins and 0.19 Ethereum.
Ulbricht's bitcoin wallet has received a total of 12.45 BTC since its establishment. It is unclear whether this money is still in his possession or has already been used for his leniency or charitable purposes.
If Trump really follows through on his promise and pardons him, he could at least receive several thousand dollars, or even more.