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Briefly
- Ulbricht thanked the Bitcoin Community for years, including letters, advocacy and funds.
- “You never forgot me. You gave me hope,” Ulbricht told the audience.
- He called on the crypto community to unite about the fundamental values of freedom, decentralization and unity.
A decade after being sentenced to two life seats plus 40 years without conditional discharge, founder Silk Road Ross Ulbricht On Thursday, he entered the stage at the Bitcoin 2025 conference, a free man. No more behind the bars, Ulbricht was overwhelmed by how much the world, Bitcoin and technology changed from its prison.
“Just a few months ago, I was trapped behind these prison walls and I didn’t know if I would ever go out,” Ulbricht said. “I’m free now, and that’s for you.”
Starting as he remembered the year behind the bars, Ulbricht thanked the Bitcoin community for standing in prison all the time.
“You didn’t leave me. You didn’t Forget me. You wrote my letters. Your raised money For my defense, “Ulbricht told the audience.” When I silenced, you spoke against the slander and the stain. “
He described his pardon as a “miracle” and said that disoriented that they appear in a world filled with drones, AI and cryptocurrency apps.
“I effectively got into the 2013 time capsule,” Ulbricht said, comparing myself to Rip Van Winkle.
“When I got out of prison a few months ago, I never saw the drone, used AI, or tried VR. I didn’t even talk to AI,” he said. “Now all I hit me – freedom, technology, the fact that I have a future again.”
Agents with the US Federal Investigation Office arrested Ulbricht on October 1, 2013. Because of his involvement in the creation and management of Silk Road. The dark web market has facilitated anonymous sale of illegal drugs and services using Bitcoin.
Ulbricht is charged with conspiracy, drug trade and criminal management. May 29, 2015. American District Judge Katherine Forrest convicted Ulbricht up to two lives plus 40 years without conditional freedom.
Ulbricht’s belief caused a global campaign to release him. Led by Ulbricht’s mother, Lyn Ulbricht, the free ross movement included a Change.org A petition that received over 600,000 signatures seeking grace.
In the lead to the Presidential Election in 2024, then candidate Donald Trump promised to release Ulbricht in an attempt to complain to the Bitcoin community.
After 11 years in prison, January 21, 2025, President Trump signed Pardon published by Ulbricht.
“He needed a trump president who acknowledged that injustice had been done and many of you had asked for my freedom.
Despite the years he spent in prison, Ulbricht urged the Bitcoin community to remain grounded in his fundamental principles.
“With so many speeds and chaos, it’s more important than ever to be faithful to our principles. It’s easy to lose sight when everything happens at once and countless things get your attention,” he said. “The principles should be simple and small, and today I will mention three: freedom, decentralization and unity. Remember those three.”
As he closed his speech, Ulbricht called for solidarity – not only among the Bitcoers, but also in the entire community of cryptocurrencies – and for the renewed commitment to the values that brought him and the movement of this movement.
“We can claim, but they never see each other as enemies. Those who are opposed to decentralization and freedom progressing in our division. Stay united,” he said. “If we agree to deserve freedom and that decentralization secures it, we can stand together. Having a back to each other, as you had mine. Freedom, decentralization, unity – still true for them, and the future is ours.”
Edited Sebastian Sinclair
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