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.

The self-declared "pro-crypto president" Donald Trump pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht on Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump says he has signed a full and unconditional pardon for Ross Ulbricht, who operated Silk Road, the dark web marketplace where illegal drugs were sold. Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 in New York in a narcotics and money laundering conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison.

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.

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he had pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground website for selling drugs. Ulbricht had been sentenced to life in prison in 2015. Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media website, that he had spoken to Ulbricht’s mother on his first full day in office.

President Donald Trump issued a pardon to Ross Ulbricht, who ran the dark web marketplace Silk Road under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts.” Ulbricht has been serving a life sentence without parole since 2015,

President Trump has followed through on one of his key campaign promises — at least for those in the crypto community — pardoning the sentence of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.

Ross Ulbricht had been sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after a high-profile prosecution that highlighted the role of the internet in illegal markets.

The pardon is a big deal for cryptocurrency enthusiasts and libertarians, who have been pushing for Ulbricht’s sentence to be absolved for years.