The recently pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the dark web marketplace Silk Road, looks to still hold millions of dollars in Bitcoin. This comes following the revelation of wallets linked to the Silk Road founder, containing coins that remained untouched while he was in prison.Â
Ross Ulbricht Reportedly Still Holds $44 Million In Bitcoin
In an X post, On-chain sleuth Conor Grogan revealed that the Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht still holds $44 million in Bitcoin. Grogan stated that he found 430 BTC across dozens of wallets associated with Ulbricht that were not confiscated by the US government and have been untouched for over 13 years, the period in which Ulbricht was in jail.
Grogan remarked that these wallets were probably dust wallets back then, which could explain why the US government paid little attention to them and failed to trace them. However, these wallets are now collectively worth over $44 million. This sum could undoubtedly help Ulbricht, who was recently pardoned by US President Donald Trump, get back on track after spending around 13 years in prison for cybercrimes involving the Silk Road marketplace.Â
However, while these bitcoins may indeed belong to Ross Ulbricht, there is a probability that the Silk Road may no longer have access to them. Grogan noted that it is unlikely that he has the keys stored down anywhere, meaning that Ulbricht may be unable to access these funds or even move them to sell.Â
Meanwhile, it is worth mentioning that Ross Ulbricht contributed to most of the bitcoins that the US government currently holds. The government has seized 144,000 BTC from the Silk Road founder following his arrest back in 2013. The government also seized several bitcoins from other suspects who were arrested in connection to the Silk Road marketplace. Arkham Intelligence data shows that the government currently holds 198,109 BTC ($20 billion).
One Crypto-Related Campaign Promise FulfilledÂ
By pardoning Ross Ulbricht, US President Donald Trump has fulfilled one of the crypto-related campaign promises that he made prior to his election victory in November last year. This move by the pro-crypto president has sparked optimism that he will also fulfill other promises made to the crypto community.
Among these crypto-related promises, which the crypto community is highly anticipating, is the creation of a Strategic Bitocin Reserve. Alongside pardoning Ross Ulbricht on day one in office, Trump has promised to create a US BTC reserve, in which the government will hold its seized Bitcoin instead of auctioning them.Â
Although Trump did not mention anything about this BTC reserve or crypto in general in his inaugural speech, Ross Ulbricht’s pardon provides optimism that the US president will fulfill this crypto campaign promise and implement several other crypto-friendly policies.
