Ulbricht, who was convicted of running an anonymous online drug marketplace, became a hero to crypto-holders everywhere. What does his pardon signal for the future of the technology?

The president granted the unconditional release of the online drug impresario as a favor to libertarians and cryptocurrency partisans.

Ross Ulbricht’s first hopes for clemency died when a mob of Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Trump had planned to commute the life sentence of the founder of the Silk Road online drug bazaar at the end of his first term,

Ulbricht's story has long been a lightning rod for discussions around sentencing reform, the ethics of decentralized platforms, and the role of government in regulating the digital frontier. Charles Hoskinson,

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

Until, of course, in 2013 the Silk Road was shut down by FBI agents and Mr Ulbricht, then 29 years old, was arrested in the science-fiction section of a San Francisco public library. In 2015, after a four-week trial,

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison for running an underground online marketplace where drug dealers and others conducted more than $200 million in illicit trade using bitcoin.

Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 on charges related to his website, where users could buy and sell drugs and other illegal goods with bitcoin.