Can we expect the Silk Road founder’s pardon to make America great again?

Ulbricht is perhaps the world’s first great cybercriminal and has inspired legions of crime entrepreneurs. He was also the first entrepreneur to provide ‘proof of concept’ of Bitcoin as a digital currency. Interestingly, this pardon in the US does not give him immunity from being tried for money laundering in other countries.

Silk Road was an online marketplace for trading in contraband. It maintained the anonymity of vendors and users through a two-pronged strategy.

First, the platform could be accessed through a special internet browser called Tor, which hides the user’s real location. Second, suppliers received payment for supply of contraband in Bitcoin. Since Bitcoin wallet addresses are pseudonymous, law enforcement could not pierce through the trades on this platform.

Vendors on Silk Road came from many countries—like the US, Canada, Germany, Australia and the UK. Over time, it grew into a huge online black market. Between 2011, when Ulbricht started the portal, and 2013, when he was caught, Silk Road facilitated transactions amounting to 9.5 million Bitcoin, which was then worth $1.2 billion. Ulbricht took a commission on each deal, which ranged between 8% and 15% of the sale proceeds.

For years, different law enforcement agencies in the US—like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Agency and Internal Revenue Service—tried to find the person behind Silk Road. Ulbricht was careful not to leave any clues about his identity. But an IRS agent discovered an old post about Silk Road on a public website. In that post, Ulbricht had accidentally used his real name. That slip led to his arrest. About 144,000 Bitcoin found in his personal wallets were seized. He was sentenced to two life terms plus 40 years in prison.

Shocking pardon 

Law enforcement agencies in the US devoted significant resources to pursuing Ulbricht and later prosecuting him. The pursuit involved undercover operations, blockchain analysis, digital forensics, coordinated raids and old-fashioned detective work (which finally succeeded).

A multi-agency task force called ‘Baltimore Silk Road Task Force’ had been set up to pursue him. Two members of it were later convicted of accepting Bitcoin from Ulbricht as bribes.

It is a pity that, after all that work, Ulbricht will just walk out of prison. The Libertarian Party in the US had been asking for his release for a long time, arguing that he did not deserve such a long sentence. Upon issuing the pardon, Trump thundered in a post on his Truth Social platform that “The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponisation of government against me.”

But is Ulbricht off the hook?

Even though Ulbricht’s federal crimes in the US are now forgiven, he is not guaranteed freedom. Since Silk Road facilitated drug deals and money laundering across many countries, he can still be prosecuted in other jurisdictions. Money laundering laws in most countries derive from the standard set by the Palermo Convention, so these countries can prosecute the laundering of proceeds from crime that had originally taken place in another country.

The Silk Road was a global enterprise that enabled drug traffickers to operate by facilitating narcotic payments in many countries. Ulbricht has already been convicted

by the US judiciary, and his presidential pardon does not dispute the conviction. So, if any of these countries decide Ulbricht helped launder drug money there, they can ask for his extradition and put him on trial.

Ulbricht’s legacy

While some view Ross as just a criminal mastermind, he has become an emblem of libertarian ideals for many. Libertarians—who espouse personal liberty, autonomy and limited government—see him as an entrepreneur who was victimized by an intrusive government.

As one of the earliest entrepreneurs who harnessed digital anonymity for profit, he showed the way for many other underground marketplaces on the Dark Web. His Silk Road also served to accelerate the adoption of Bitcoin, and showcased its potential for peer-to-peer transactions outside the financial system.

Innovator, cybercriminal, role model, launderer: Ulbricht has achieved a lot in his life. As he starts his second innings, he may make not just America, but also the Dark Web great again.

These are the author’s personal views.

Smarak Swain is the author of ‘The Great Indian Fraud’.