At 29, he was sentenced to die in prison.

After 10 years behind bars, Donald Trump just pardoned him.

Here's the wild story of Ross Ulbricht, Bitcoin's most controversial pioneer:

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Meet Ross Ulbricht:

• Eagle Scout from Austin, Texas

• Physics scholar on scholarship

• Early Bitcoin believer

• Libertarian idealist

He called it Silk Road.

The goal? Create a free market outside government control.

The site exploded in popularity:

• First major platform to use Bitcoin ✓

• Pioneered escrow & review systems ✓

• Created trust in digital payments ✓

• Helped prove Bitcoin's real-world use ✓

But it also became known for illegal goods.

October 2013:

FBI agents tracked Ulbricht to a San Francisco library.

As they arrested him, one agent kept him talking while another grabbed his laptop - still logged into Silk Road's admin panel.

The site was seized.

The sentence:

• Two life terms

• Plus 40 years

• No possibility of parole

• First-time, non-violent offender

For comparison:

• Major drug dealers got 10 years

• Site administrators got 8 months

• Other defendants averaged 2-5 years

But the real shock was yet to come...

The Feds were watching.

The rules were simple:

• No violence allowed

• No stolen property

• No harming third parties

• Bitcoin-only payments

But things quickly spiraled out of control...

In 2011, he had an idea that would transform crypto forever:

A truly free marketplace using Bitcoin and privacy tech.

Despite everything, his impact on crypto is undeniable:

• Proved Bitcoin's real-world utility

• Pioneered digital reputation systems

• Drove early Bitcoin adoption

• Influenced modern crypto marketplaces