Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht pardoned by Trump 10 years into life sentence

Max Dickstein stands with other upporters of Ross Ulbricht, the creator and operator of the Silk Road underground market, in front of a Manhattan federal court house on the first day of jury selection for his trial on January 13, 2015 in New York City. Credit: Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images News

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

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.)

Trump had pledged at the Libertarian National Convention to set Ulbricht free while on the campaign trail, agreeing with supporters who believe that Ulbricht's long sentence was a harsh example of government overreach.

While Ulbricht had admitted to creating Silk Road ...