Ross Ulbricht was serving a life sentence for creating a site in a shady corner of the internet to sell heroin, cocaine and other illicit substances.

On his second day back in office, President Donald Trump issued a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of dark-web marketplace Silk Road. Trump had pledged to free Ulbricht as part of a raft of promises made to the cryptocurrency community while on the campaign trail.

Law enforcement said Ulbricht created the “most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace” on the internet.

Donald Trump pardoned the creator of the world’s first dark-web drug market, who is now a libertarian cause célèbre in some parts of the crypto community.

Social media slams Donald Trump for giving Silk Road operator and notorious drug dealer Ross Ulbricht an unconditional pardon.

The pardon is a big deal for cryptocurrency enthusiasts and libertarians, who have been pushing for Ulbricht’s sentence to be absolved for years.

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.

President Donald Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road marketplace, delivering on a campaign promise he made to court the cryptocurrency community and libertarian voters.

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.

Ulbricht, 40, had been serving a life sentence on federal drug trafficking charges for setting up the illegal website.

Following Ross Ulbricht's pardon, the Trump Administration must follow through on crypto’s potential to spread privacy and financial innovation.