“Ross will be freed too.”
Those five words, posted by Elon Musk to his X account, sent the odds of a pardon for Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht soaring to near certainty.
According to a contract on Polymarket, the odds of a Ulbricht pardon are now above 90%…
A petition calling for clemency for Ulbricht on freeross.org has gathered over 600,000 signatures since his incarceration.
The petition has garnered support from those who argue his life sentence is excessive and unjust, and from some bitcoiners that uphold Silk Road’s libertarian ideals.
As CoinDesk’s Sam Reynolds reports, Trump first promised to pardon Ulbricht during a campaign stop at the Libertarian National Convention last May.
“If you vote for me, on Day 1, I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht to a sentence of time served,” Trump said during a speech last year.
“He’s already served 11 years, we’re gonna get him home.”
“On day one, I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht.”
— Trump pic.twitter.com/k9WV5i7lf5
— Alan ₿ Watts ⚡️ (@alanbwt) January 21, 2025
Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2015 for his role in the operation of the Silk Road marketplace, which pioneered the use of the dark web.
Supporters of Ulbricht say that his sentence was disproportionately long for the crime.
Elsewhere on the Polymarket pardon list is Roger Ver, an early bitcoin investor and bitcoin cash (BCH) advocate, who was indicted for tax fraud last April, and the market is giving a 32% chance of a pardon taking place in the first 100 days.
Despite crypto playing a prominent part of Trump’s campaign, Polymarket bettors are only giving a 43% of a crypto executive order, regarding the use, trading, or legal status of digital assets, happening in the first week.
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