Donald Trump has once again expressed support for Ross Ulbricht, the imprisoned founder of the Silk Road, an illegal online marketplace.<\/p>\n
Trump took to Truth Social to vow that he would \u201csave\u201d Ulbricht.<\/p>\n
The former president shared a screenshot of Ulbricht\u2019s recent post <\/a>marking the start of another year in prison, \u201cHere it is. The start of my 12th year in prison today. I intend to make the most of it and use my time wisely,\u201d Ulbricht said. In his post, Trump responded, \u201cI WILL SAVE ROSS ULBRICHT!\u201d<\/p>\n The 39-year-old, arrested in 2013 on charges of drug trafficking, money laundering, and computer hacking, was the creator of Silk Road. The dark web platform enabled the anonymous sale of illegal drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and LSD using Bitcoin (BTC), processing over $1 billion in transactions before being shut down shortly after his arrest.<\/p>\n In 2015, Ulbricht was sentenced to two life terms plus 40 years without the possibility of parole. Since then, authorities have seized <\/a>over $1 billion in Bitcoin from Silk Road\u2019s treasury, along with additional amounts confiscated from individuals connected to the marketplace and other criminal activities over the years.<\/p>\n This is not the first time Trump has shown<\/a> support for the founder. At the Libertarian National Convention in May 2024, he promised to \u201ccommute\u201d his life sentence \u201con day one\u201d of his presidency if re-elected, drawing cheers from the crowd with many waving \u201cFree Ross\u201d signs. Following this declaration, Ulbricht responded on X, saying<\/a>, \u201cThank you. Thank you. Thank you\u2026 After 11 years in prison, it is hard to express how I feel at this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s support for the platform\u2019s founder aligns with his growing pro-crypto stance. In the same speech, he also criticized Senator Warren, vowing to \u201ckeep Elizabeth Warren and her goons away from your Bitcoin.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s promise to free Ross Ulbricht has renewed debates about the fairness of his sentence, especially given Silk Road\u2019s pivotal role in popularizing Bitcoin. The platform brought Bitcoin into the mainstream, showcasing its use for decentralized payments but also damaging its reputation by associating it with criminal activity.<\/p>\n Ulbricht\u2019s case continues to divide the crypto community. Many libertarians and crypto advocates argue<\/a> that his sentence was excessively harsh and represents an attack on decentralized finance and privacy principles. They view his punishment as an example of government overreach aimed at stifling innovation in decentralized technologies.<\/p>\n However, others point to the massive illegal drug trade that occurred on the darknet website and argue that the sentence was appropriate considering the harm caused.<\/p>\n The post Trump Once Again Vows to \u2018Save\u2019 Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht<\/a> appeared first on CryptoPotato<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Donald Trump has once again expressed support for Ross Ulbricht, the imprisoned founder of the Silk Road, an illegal online marketplace. Trump took to Truth Social to vow that he would \u201csave\u201d Ulbricht. Trump Vows to Free Ulbricht if Re-elected The former president shared a screenshot of Ulbricht\u2019s recent post marking the start of another […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":11941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11940"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Government Overreach<\/h2>\n