Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht is free after President Donald Trump pardoned him. But who is he and what did he do?

Wallets belonging to Ross Ulbricht, the imprisoned creator of the illegal drug marketplace Silk Road, were discovered on Wednesday, containing as many as 430 Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) unmoved for over 13 years.

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.

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

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.

President Donald Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the drug marketplace Silk Road who is revered by many cryptocurrency enthusiasts and Libertarians. “I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright to let her know,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, misspelling Ulbricht’s name.

Donald Trump has granted a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of online drug marketplace Silk Road who became a hero for America’s libertarian movement.

Fulfilling a campaign promise to libertarians and the bitcoin community, the Silk Road founder's life sentence without parole is now over.

Ross Ulbricht, known for creating the Silk Road website, was sentenced to life in prison in 2015. The site, accessible only through Tor, allowed anonymous purchases of illegal goods using Bitcoin. President Trump recently pardoned Ulbricht, sparking discussions within the crypto community.

According to Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor who now works in white collar defense at Paul Hastings, a pardon undoes the forfeiture or property—unless, as is the case with Ulbricht's bitcoin, it has already been sold and the proceeds spent. The upshot is Ulbricht's one-time fortune appears long gone.

Libertarian and crypto allies of Ross Ulbricht, who was serving a life sentence for distributing drugs on his Silk Road website, leveraged President Trump’s desire for political support to secure his release.