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International Business Times
International Business Times
Business
Marvie Basilan

Free Ross: Crypto Community Urges Trump To Keep His Promise For Silk Road Founder

Ross Ulbricht Donald Trump Crypto Dave Smith Joe Rogan Prison Bitcoin Republican United States
Ulbricht turned 40 in prison in March. (Credit: Free Ross on X)

KEY POINTS

  • Ulbricht recently started his 12th year in prison after being jailed for creating the Silk Road darkweb marketplace
  • Erik Voorhees said the pledge to free Ulbricht is a promise that must be kept by all means
  • Trump used the #FreeRossDayOne hashtag during the 16th anniversary of the Bitcoin white paper

Donald Trump made many promises throughout his presidential campaign, and one of them was his vow to free Ross Ulbricht, who created the darkweb marketplace Silk Road and recently started his 12th year behind bars.

While the cryptocurrency community has been celebrating the Republican's victory since late Tuesday, the #FreeRoss movement has risen above the social media festivities, reawakening the "freedom" roots of an industry that has widely supported calls to free Ulbricht since his incarceration for creating Silk Road.

Why Did Crypto Support Ulbricht In the First Place?

Ulbricht launched the Silk Road marketplace in 2011 where consumers could purchase a wide array of products – from legal goods such as books to illegal items such as drugs and guns. It was considered the first "real" use case for Bitcoin, the world's first decentralized cryptocurrency that has since reached a $1.5 trillion market cap, as of early Friday.

Silk Road allowed consumers to purchase products using BTC, with transactions being settled fast and censorship from central banks being out of the question, basically allowing people to buy anonymously.

Anonymity is the core of cryptocurrency – the promise of bringing financial freedom back to the people, thus drawing crypto users to Ulbricht's case when he was arrested in 2013. The authorities shut down Silk Road, and Ulbricht pleaded not guilty in 2014.

In 2015, a jury found Ulbricht guilty on multiple charges in relation to his operation of Silk Road. Since then, the #FreeRoss movement has been pushing for Ulbricht's freedom on the defense that the developer "was not tried for selling drugs or illegal items himself, nor did he launder money or hack computers, but was held responsible for what others listed on Silk Road."

Ulbricht is serving life without parole for operating the online marketplace that was used by criminals to sell weapons and other illegal items.

The movement seemed to die down in recent years, but on Tuesday, the crypto community revived calls for Ulbricht's freedom, banking on Trump's promise that if he wins the presidency, he will free the Silk Road founder.

Free Ross X Account Publishes Family Statement

The X account of the Free Ross movement posted a statement said to have come from Ulbricht's family on Thursday.

"Ross is coming home in January!" the statement said, adding that the family is grateful for Trump's "pledge to #FreeRoss," and also thanked everyone who have supported the call for Ulbricht's release. "Here's to his 12th Thanksgiving in prison being the last one!" the statement concluded.

Crypto Leaders, Community Remind Trump of His Promise

ShapeShift founder Erik Voorhees, a prominent figure in the crypto space, said the pledge regarding Ulbricht "is a promise which must be kept." He went on to note that to keep such a promise "costs Trump nothing, and it's a unilateral decision."

"We must now hold Trump to the campaign promises," said well-followed @catoletters, while We Rate founder Quinten Francois said a united front from the crypto industry to hold Trump to his promise regarding Ulbricht will secure the developer's freedom.

Libertarian political commentator Dave Smith also said during his guesting on Joe Rogan's podcast that he hopes Trump will free Ulbricht on his first day, as he promised.

Multiple other prominent people across the crypto space took to X to remind Trump of his campaign promise regarding Ulbricht.

While Trump has yet to respond to the crypto community's calls on the matter, he did greet Bitcoiners a "Happy 16th Anniversary of Satoshi's White Paper" on Oct. 31. Notably, he used the #FreeRossDayOne hashtag on the said post.

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