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

On Wednesday, the price of bitcoin jumped to more than $104,000, following Donald Trump’s announcement of a presidential pardon for Silk Road and bitcoin-libertarian folk hero Ross Ulbricht. The digital asset community also eagerly anticipated a flood of crypto executive orders that would overturn years of perceived regulatory slights.

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.

Donald Trump pardoned the creator of the world’s first dark-web drug market, who is now a libertarian cause célèbre in some parts of the crypto community.

Ulbricht, 40, was about 10 years into his life sentence for helming an online black market where drug dealers, money launderers, and traffickers used bitcoins to mask more than $214 million in illicit trades. (Ars thoroughly documented the Silk Road saga here .)

President Donald Trump has pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of darknet market Silk Road, fulfilling a campaign promise. Trump issued the order on Tuesday, the second day of his second administration.

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.

President Donald Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road marketplace, delivering on a campaign promise he made to court the cryptocurrency community and libertarian voters.

Trump pardons Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, sparking debate on justice reform, Libertarian influence, and online crime consequences.

Libertarian activists, who generally oppose criminal drug policies, argued the government overreached in building its case against Ross Ulbricht and the dark web marketplace Silk Road.

Ethereum market capitalization fell 4.7%; Ripple and Solana surged by 36.9% and 32.2%, respectively, in one month. Alexander Pack explains how Ethereum’s modular approach has hurt the ETH price due to reduced fees and less token burn.