Ross Ulbricht

Ross Ulbricht the founder of the first “modern darknet market” has reached the 10-year mark of his double life sentence in prison after having his laptop seized by the FBI in 2013.

The founder of the former online black market Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, marked 10 years behind bars after he was given a double life sentence by United States authorities in 2013. 

On Oct. 2 Ulbricht posted on X that he has already spent a full decade in prison and fears he will spend the remainder of his life “behind concrete walls and locked doors.” He said all he can do now is “pray for mercy.”

One year for each finger on both hands.

Today ends a full decade in prison.

I sometimes fear I'll spend the rest of my life behind concrete walls and locked doors. But I have no one else to blame. It's my poor choices that led me here.

All I can do now is pray for mercy.

— Ross Ulbricht (@RealRossU) October 1, 2023

Silk Road began in 2011 and was run and operated by Ulbricht from his personal laptop under the username “Dread Pirate Roberts.” It is known as the first modern darknet market and had a payment system built on Bitcoin (BTC). 

However, on Oct. 1, 2023, the laptop was seized by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 in federal court in the U.S. for various charges relating to the operations of the Silk Road. He was sentenced to two life terms, plus forty years and no possibility of parole.

According to the court documents for the case, while in operation the Silk Road site facilitated sales amounting to 9,519,664 Bitcoins (BTC) between February 2011 and July 2013, and took a commission of 600,000 Bitcoins (BTC).

At the time of publication of the court documents, this equaled approximately $1.2 billion in sales and around $80 million in commissions.

Related: September becomes the biggest month for crypto exploits in 2023: CertiK

Ulbricht’s case has received widespread attention, with many echoing calls for the website’s founder to be shown clemency.

According to a website fighting for justice for Ulbricht, over 250 organizations have backed these calls and half a million people have signed a virtual petition to free Ulbricht. He has also found great support among the crypto and Bitcoin communities.

Nearly makes me cry to see this post, the punishment didn’t suit the crime and people who have done much worse have had a chance of redemption, #freeross

— Soberclown.eth (@bitcoinnz) October 2, 2023

One user went so far as to deem Ulbricht as a "Bitcoin political prisoner" and said he is someone Bitcoiners can never forget. 

Ross Ulbricht is a Bitcoin political prisoner.

He has been in prison since 2013.

Some would prefer we forget him, but Bitcoiners never will.

—

Ross was sentenced by the federal government to 2 life sentences + 40 years with no parole.

As a first-time offender and convicted… pic.twitter.com/usPlbN79j1

— Phree ☢️ (@BitPhree) September 30, 2023

While there is a powerful swell of support for Ulbricht and many internet users have voiced agreement that the punishments given to the Silk Road founder were unjust, there are others who see the outcome differently. 

One X user pointed out that the prosecution in the case against Ulbricht claimed that he allegedly hired hitmen to have several people killed, though this wasn’t officially charged to Ulbricht and still remains a claim.

Is murder for hire legalized yet or no. Seems like the lede was buried a bit in this intro.

— Rob Freund (@RobertFreundLaw) October 2, 2023

Another user highlighted what actually happened on the Silk Road site, including sex trafficking and the drug trade, and how it was used by “terrible people to do this stuff.”

Silk road sold drugs, human trafficking and other things. Let's not pretend like it wasn't used by terrible people to do this stuff. That being said I'm sure that's not how he intended it to be used

— shoooooooo (@shoooiiiii) October 2, 2023

Debates online continue as Ulbricht defenders point to modern social media platforms such as X and Facebook, saying, “All of those things happen on [X] as well. And every other social media site."

The leading website dedicated to freeing Ross has posted the sentences dealt to others involved with the Silk Road saying that the average sentence is around six years. The top drug seller on the site was only given seven years in prison and is currently free. 

Additionally, the creators of the Silk Road 2.0 have either served nothing or up to 6.5 years and are now all free.

Magazine: $3.4B of Bitcoin in a popcorn tin: The Silk Road hacker’s story