Ross Ulbricht, the controversial founder of the Silk Road darknet marketplace, is set to make his first public appearance since being granted a presidential pardon earlier this year. Ulbricht will address the audience at the Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, taking place from May 27 to 29, marking a dramatic return to the public eye after more than a decade behind bars.
The announcement came via Ulbricht’s official X (formerly Twitter) account on April 10, confirming his participation in the event. His appearance follows a highly publicized full and unconditional pardon issued by former President Donald Trump in January, a decision that stirred debate across political and tech communities.
Trump defended his move by calling Ulbricht’s original sentence “outrageous” and credited mounting pressure from Libertarian groups and cryptocurrency advocates. The pardon effectively ended Ulbricht’s prison sentence, which had been one of the most severe ever handed down for non-violent internet crimes.
From 2011 to 2013, Ulbricht operated Silk Road, a dark web marketplace that allowed users to anonymously buy and sell illegal goods—particularly drugs—using Bitcoin. Operating under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts,” Ulbricht turned Silk Road into one of the earliest and most notorious examples of cryptocurrency use in the black market.
The platform was only accessible through the Tor browser, ensuring a high level of user anonymity. During its peak, Silk Road facilitated millions of dollars’ worth of transactions, and Ulbricht allegedly earned around $13 million in commissions paid in Bitcoin.
The FBI arrested Ulbricht in 2013 at a public library in San Francisco. Along with his capture, law enforcement seized nearly 174,000 Bitcoins, which were then valued at over $33 million. Following a high-profile trial in 2015, Ulbricht was convicted on charges including drug trafficking, money laundering, and computer hacking. He received an unprecedented sentence: two life terms plus 40 years without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors also accused Ulbricht of commissioning murder-for-hire plots to protect his identity and operations, although no actual murders were committed and the charges related to those allegations were dropped before trial.
Despite the severity of his sentence, Ulbricht became a symbolic figure within the Libertarian and crypto communities, many of whom argued his punishment was excessive for a non-violent offense. His case sparked debate around digital privacy, government overreach, and the ethical implications of decentralized marketplaces.
Following his release, the Libertarian Party publicly thanked Trump for fulfilling what they called a “promise of justice.” As Ulbricht prepares to speak next month, many in the Bitcoin world are eager to hear his reflections on freedom, technology, and the future of digital currencies.