Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht Turns 40 with 11 Years Spent Behind Bars

Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the infamous Silk Road marketplace, turns 40 tomorrow on March 27. He was sentenced to two life sentences to serve in prison and has already spent 11 years in prison cells – since he was 29.

As his 40th birthday is almost here, the global cryptocurrency community again starts calling on U.S. authorities to release Ulbricht from imprisonment.

Ross Ulbricht's recent news from prison

Ulbricht set up the darknet marketplace Silk Road in 2011. The website ran on the Tor network, and it attracted numerous sellers of drugs and other illegal products and services, with Bitcoin used for payments. Silk Road could not but attract law enforcement authorities’ attention, and in 2013 Ulbricht was tracked down and arrested, with Silk Road closed down.

Many within the cryptocurrency community around the world have been making calls for him to be set free but to no avail. Ulbright runs an account on X/Twitter, and he often tweets from prison. In the middle of March, he published a post about moving to a new cell block. He wrote: “It's been a rough landing but I think it'll be ok once I get to know everyone.”

On March 20, he tweeted that he is now, again (after three years), allowed to go outside in the early morning and listen to the birds singing.

A year ago, on March 27, he tweeted that he had lost his 30s to prison. “During that time, I’ve done my best to learn from my mistakes, better myself, and help others do the same. I hope someday I can make amends as a free man as well.”

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U.S. government sells Silk Road-related Bitcoin

In January this year, as reported by U.Today, the U.S. District Court issued permission for $130 million worth of Bitcoin confiscated from Silk Road agents to be sold and the gained funds be added to the U.S. federal budget.

This crypto was confiscated from Silk Road operators, in particular those named Ryan Farace and Sean Bridges. In July 2023, the U.S. government conducted a transaction, moving $300 million after selling another BTC chunk related to the aforementioned criminal marketplace in March – 9,861 Bitcoins sold for $216 million.