Topic: How important Ross Ulbricht to the bitcoin community? (Read 353 times)

Every mistake is definitely dealing with the law whoever the person is and must be held accountable for what has been done. Like what Ross did was wrong from a legal perspective but on the other hand like @ChiBitCTy's opinion he has a BIG role in the rise of bitcoin and what we regret if it is true is that Ross is only a victim of the legal system that wants to make an example of him even though there is an implied message for others if they try it.

Now that he's a free man, the government might pay even more attention to him. I mean, when he was locked up he was serving a life sentence, and an extra 40 years. So, without the pardon he’d be rotting in jail. Now that he's out, we really don't know what his next move will be. Given his legendary status in the Bitcoin world, he could come up with another stupid idea that might be even worse than before. These are just possibilities since he's capable of surprising us,  while we hope he won’t do anything crazy, we shouldn't close our eyes to that possibility.

He is already happy as he is free from being persecuted, so there is that.
Even though he was instrumental to the platform that utilized BTC greatly, I don't think of him that highly. I am just happy for him to be away from government attention.

I do think Mr.Ross is being an angel  At the beginning times !
 its so calming to listen his history he had a big role in bitcoin when btc is baby.
But what about after ?
he saw the system getting involved in criminal activities but he agree to continue.
He is pardoned kindly ok
more than 10+ years , he learn his lesson.

He was pretty damn important to the progression of bitcoin and instrumental in establishing a global market that you can buy and sell literally anything on there. I knew a guy from college who lost a bunch from ordering drugs i was something like 30 bitcoins actually. I can only imagine having so much once in your possession and then losing it, much like Ross. I hope he gets access to some old wallets or something and gets some of his money back.

silk road customers of 2011-2013... how many of them are populating this very forum today... hmm not many responders im guessing

silk road itself did not facilitate 100m customers
silk road did not facilitate 10m customers
silk road did not facilitate 1m customers

if you look at the number of accounts coinbase(over 70m) or binance(over 200m) has in recent times.. the comparison puts things into prospective

it was the NEWS of some illegal site using bitcoin that caught SOME attention of tv viewers to then learn about bitcoin. but again not millions of people

if you look at the popularity of bitcoin 2011-2013.. and then compare it to other bitcoin events of 2014-2025 and look at the amount of users learning about bitcoin in different events, it puts things into prospective, SR was small.

take me for instance.
i came to this forum in 2012. but my first approach of learning about bitcoin in late 2011 start of 2012 was not due to gossip of SR, but instead my interest in investments of traditional finance and then getting gossip through the coding/tech community about bitcoin as a financial tool and deflationary money, others i knew also learned of bitcoin via the tech/finance industry gossip, not from the drug dealer site

all in all. SR may have given some news media gossip intro into bitcoin. but lets not pretend SR was some messiah/martyr complex of bitcoin religion

Compared to other criminals, his sentence was extremely severe but the problem is that other criminals weren't punished the way they should be, i.e. the sentence for other criminals should be much higher. I think I know what you are talking about, so I won't go into details.

I think that people are very delusional and have double standards. First of all, what this man did is terrible, it's not good for Bitcoin too. He started a website where people were selling lots of illegal things and he made Bitcoin look dirty because of that. I understand that people love decentralization but what he did is beyond normal. We can't have a decentralized marketplace, people aren't that good and today, majority of people will use that for illegal activities. He knew it very well but he was making a fortune and was closing eye on that.

Which are you standing for, should Satoshi really be punished, what was his offence?. I don't want to believe this crazy assumptions are still on, surely at the early stages of Bitcoin development, if Satoshi was to be known he would have also been put in prison by the government, meanwhile that still wouldn't stop Bitcoin growth because the blockchain is totally decentralized as long communities continue making use of it there will be no difference between Satoshi being anonymous or when he is known.

The government blaming Ross, what happens to their own currency, US fiat is no good and inside there are illegal trades accompanying the currency. We can't stop the actual illegal use of these currencies, it's difficult and nearly impossible, they just need to understand the sole purpose of it's creation, make the environment favorable and then also find means to combat manipulations in the system.

That wasn't his intention to run a marketplace for selling drugs and illicit products. He was only a "fall guy" after he handed out the operation of the site to other people who then turned it to a place of illegal deals. Ross only wanted a free marketplace where people would enjoy anonymity. Take Satoshi for instance, if he was reachable he may have gotten a jail sentence for creating bitcoin, because it's also used for crime. Moreover, Ross' punishment is way too much, and Trump thoughts happened to be that the last administration had much hatred for Bitcoin technology and needed to use him as an escape goat.

Even the guy who worked on Ross arrest also tried to stop Trump from ruling. It all contributes to why the President chose to release him. As for the crypto community being happy, these are the people who really understood what happened during the incident and thought of it as wickedness to get a young developer locked up that long for running a marketplace that accepts Bitcoin.

Ross Ulbricht faced the consequences of his actions and served 12 years in prison, enduring this sentence with virtually no hope of ever getting out again. Can you imagine the psychological pain? Not to mention that none of his co-defendants, not even the administrators of Silk Road 2.0 (Blake Benthall and Thomas White), received such long sentences. Even the special agent who laundered and stole bitcoins from the US government, Shaun Bridges, has long since been released. (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-secret-service-agent-sentenced-scheme-related-silk-road-investigation)

As for the DEA agent, who should have been exemplary ... I'll let you read the judgment.


(https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-dea-agent-sentenced-extortion-money-laundering-and-obstruction-related-silk-road)

So either Ross Ulbricht had very bad lawyers, or he didn't report anyone, or both.

He was pardoned by Trump and that was something some people were hoping for even though his past was full of mistakes. People saw that as a very harsh sentence given to him and perhaps undeserved considering that many others who committed more crimes than him got much lighter sentences. Those of us who didn’t know him personally may have forgotten about him after he was sentenced, although he is now being talked about again after being pardoned by Trump.

Our stance is clear that people who commit crimes need to be punished, but the punishment given should be proportionate to others who do the same thing. Regardless of how he contributed to bitcoin communication because the law should look the same for everyone regardless of who they are or who they are behind.

Some people lost family members to drugs and other illegal goods that were facilitated by Silk Road. Therefore, I would not say what he did was right or celebrate him as a hero. But at a time when Bitcoin was struggling to establish itself in the global financial space, Ross Ulbricht created a platform that practicalized the nature of an anonymous digital currency. Although in a negative form, Silk Road made Bitcoin popular. The platform he created was wrong and he deserved to go to jail but the sentence was harsh.   

A lot of what was being traded was (and still is) available through private connections or marketplaces, and depending on the items, can be dangerous to trade. Ross created a marketplace and ecosystem using Bitcoin that added safeguards to these trades. It's said he didn't participate in these trades himself, and since the platform allowed listings of all kinds, it was the people that made it a marketplace for illicit items, not Ross. The reason why so many support Ross (in my opinion) is due to the way in which he was arrested, which was reportedly corrupt and not in line with the natural course of justice or law. People support Ross he was a pioneer for Bitcoin and freedom, and was arrested unjustly. That's why he was able to get a presidential pardon. If he was a true criminal and the way he was arrested was correct and proper, maybe (most likely) he would not have gotten a pardon.

There's a lot more to this - it doesn't take into account more intricate details about Ross and the whole saga...though it's a summary to answer the question.



Great posts both!

well to a lot of people he really is a hero because he became the symbol of what the future could be a decentralized marketplace where you could make transactions privately is something that a lot of people did not think to attempt but it was ross who did

unfortunately it was used for the wrong reasons but the silk road was just a sneak peak to what the future may look like
if you are passionate about privacy, anonymity, and decentralization then it would not be difficult to know why ross is such a relevant person to the community

I guess what he do is just to make Bitcoin being recognize at early years of its existence and the platform he do creates a lot of controversy on internet back on early days.

But the activities he done is not actually good to follow since he create a platform which has been used by criminals and he make everything accessible to those bad guys then do their evil plans.

People are just been hook about anonymity and freedom to used Bitcoin that's why they correlate this incident on what happen currently on Ulbritch. People just missing the point on why he is in jail and just believe the fact that he is free from government control.

I don't consider Ross as a hero, but he's done one of the firsts in Bitcoin. He's therefore an important figure in the growth and adoption of Bitcoin. He'll forever be a part of Bitcoin's rich history.

The problem, however, is when people begin to blindly support him simply because of his contribution to Bitcoin's acceptance as a currency, to the point that they become oblivious of whatever crimes he may have committed or involved in.

Just because you preach decentralization, freedom, Bitcoin, full control over money, and so forth doesn't mean you can get away with crimes you knowingly and willingly committed or be a part of. I'm not talking about whether his sentence was fair or not.

Why you have a double standard in your post?

Who said Silk Road "was specifically designed" for illegal activities? that's your assumption. Silk Road is just a marketplace, Ross isn't the one who sell drugs, illegal weapons etc.

I can just say Satoshi created Bitcoin was specifically designed for illegal activities, anyone can make assumption.

Why only defaulter should get the same punishment as Ross? Satoshi need to be included.

However, Satoshi has better OPSEC than Ross, which make him stay anonymous until now since no one has expose his identity.

A young man created something for the sake of promoting privacy, anonymity, and the free market, and a group of people took advantage of that space and used it for their illegal activities, which is entirely out of the hands of the developer.

Anything can be used for corrupt practices, even before Silk Road was created, where there were no means of drugs, arms dealers, and other illegal traders conducting deals. They just had to change hands and use Silk Road; no money transmitting services are free from being used for illegal stuffs.

Satoshi is a hero, not a bad guy! (at least our way of praising him).

Bitcoin is being used as a currency and how we use it is really up to us, and there are laws in place to punish those who do illegal things with Bitcoin, so you can’t blame its creator for that. However if someone creates a platform specifically to facilitate illegal transactions that’s a different story. Those kinds of platforms need to be shut down, and the people behind them should face the consequences.

Yep, I understand the action was wrong or not legal in many ways. But the vision or the model is good where Silkroad was a free market and accepts Bitcoin for such payments, it's one of the best use cases of Bitcoin in its early days which I agree. It just used in illegal ways, which we can also relate using fiat where a lot of criminals and bad guys always using it in illegal ways.

Yes I agree it's not the best example to represent the crypto universe and the Bitcoin community, it would have been better if Bitcoin would have been traded for less harmful goods and services at the beginning. Unfortunately Bitcoin has became famous for that thanks to large dark markets, the one from Ross Ulbricht, Silk road especially, and now it has a bad reputation since many years, even if it is not used for that anymore. But enemies of it and regulators don't care about it and still use its bad reputation against itself sadly.

Ross Ulbricht's grief was totally disproportionate. Sentencing a young man to life when, prior to the Silkroad affair, he had no criminal record, means that people can never change and that mistakes are unforgivable.

Ross Ulbricht wrote: as a young man, he believed that people should have the right and freedom to buy and sell whatever they wanted, even drugs. In prison he realized the damage drugs were doing and he changed his mind.

Given that he was no longer a danger to society, and that he had shown in prison that he was a good person, notably by raising funds with his art for the children of prisoners, it was important that he be released. Life in prison is a kind of slow death, a nightmare.

He's going down in bitcoin history, not in the best way no doubt, but this time he's got big things to achieve, no doubt because he's an intelligent person. He was probably overwhelmed by his platform, had ideals that, when confronted with reality, made an explosive cocktail.

Those who think he deserved to stay in prison have probably never made a mistake in their lives.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

There are so murders, and traffickers who are walking free but Ross's sentence as you pointed out so well was extremely severe. The intention to cause reputational damage to bitcoin and its adoption was counterproductive.

Thank goodness he is out and he's gotten support from the public. Let's hope he doesn't do something like the silk road again.

I will agree with you that it is not worth all this hype and media momentum that Ross has received. I personally do not consider him a prisoner in any way, but I take into account two important facts that can explain the current state of enthusiasm in the crypto community; First, Ross was a real supporter of Bitcoin and was one of the first to use it as a primary payment system on his platform, which made the network more dynamic and active, supporting miners and the prosperity of the emerging market. Second, the mistakes he made are not worth all that time in prison. If Ross founded and managed a platform for suspicious products, the authorities did not prevent the platform’s users from continuing their activities after Ross was arrested, and today we have many platforms on the same network that provide more criminal services and we have not heard that the authorities intervened to stop them.

I agree with the need to release him as someone who spent a long time in prison that is not commensurate with the mistakes he made, but I am against making him a hero because he made it easy for drug dealers to distribute their goods.

Ross and Silk Road had a MASSIVE amount to do with the uprising of bitcoin.  I know a lot of people personally who found out about bitcoin from using Silk Road.   It showed that bitcoin had a place as a currency.  Now of course it wasn't in the "best light" so to speak, but here's what I'm still wondering..did Ross really put hits out on people. 

Also, what all was sold on Silk Road? I don't care about drugs and stuff like that, but what I'd have a real problem with is child porn, sex slaves etc..and I've heard he had stuff like that available for sale on the site, need confirmation though.  So, I'm a bit mixed on his release as I'm just not sure any of us know the truth or ever will.

I'm not going to stand in support of him, his actions were really brutal and for allowing such activities to parade under his watch means he enjoys and takes part in it.

If Satoshi truly a bad guy then maybe no one should continue making reference and dealing with what he created, back then Bitcoin was used for illegal activities and until now nothing has changed, scammers are still making use of Bitcoin for their illegal trade maybe every defaulter should be sent on same punishment as Ulbricht.

some think ross should never have gone to prison because they naively believe if people use bitcoin all crimes become unenforceable.. sorry but a crime is a crime no matter the currency used to facilitate the crime

some think ross only crime was using bitcoin and again think he should not have gone to prison simply for having alot of bitcoin and offering a marketplace that uses bitcoin.. sorry but he done some actual crimes unrelated to just using bitcoin, so did deserve prison
heck even trump is treating mexicans as criminal organisations that deserve punishment for facilitating drug deals, fake ID's and weapon sales. so even trump knows there are crimes unrelated to whatever currency was used, whether it was dollar or peso or crypto

however 2 life sentences +40years was extreme.(where the alleged hitmen suspicions were not judged) .. personally i feel if he was pardoned in trumps first presidency(2016) would have been too short of a sentence for running a drug den, weapons dealership and identity counterfeit shop. so the 12 years does seem appropriate time served and a lesson learned

Those "unlawful activities" includes ordering and paying for murders through Redandwhite. There are ton of credible info about that, and compared to evidence of Luigi murdering CEO for example, those hired murders seems 100x more credible.

I have always wondered why bitcoiners lift notorious criminal men that are somehow only "victims of censorship" on a pedestal? Trump, Musk, McAffee, just because they are rich and bitcoin somehow needs their power? Seriously? What was wrong with sticking to Andreas Antonopoulos? Too hard to pronounce and too intelligent? Was the problem that he wasn't spoiled by money and that he was accused of zero rapes? Not everyone famous involved in crypto is good publicity. In fact these people are the ones who can do damage, that people don't want to associate with, for years to come.

Here's a nice little documentary for people praising Ross -> The dark side of the silk road

And here's some more interesting reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Ulbricht#Court_proceedings

That's really a big problem there since if we look at the situation what he facilitated for sure that people would know that he commit a crime for creating that platform where people is free to sell any illegal stuff by using his platform. That situation its punishable offense especially that he didn't regulate his platform well and he let those illegalities happen on his platform then also earn with it.

But if we look on other side where people seek about right to have freedom well I this is what they are looking for. And they already get what they want as Ulbricht now is a freeman.

But same as you I don't see him as a hero but somehow I think he already serve his sentence and deserve to get a pardon from Trump.

You can't really compare the two because they’re totally different. Silk Road was an online marketplace on the dark web that was specifically designed for illegal activities and they used Bitcoin mainly to stay anonymous. The founder Ross was fully aware of what was going on and could have stopped the platform if he wanted to. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is just a currency, like fiat money that can be used for both legal and illegal purposes, so just like fiat currency, they regulate it to continue to be useful for legal transactions.

It’s not unfair in the eyes of regulators, considering that his platform facilitated a lot of illegal transactions, everything from weapons to illegal drugs, and even, possibly, prostitution. All those activities thrived because of Silk Road, and without it, they likely wouldn’t have had the same reach.

Maybe the government now sees that Ross’s original intention was to create a free market, which aligns with the push for decentralization back then, away from the eyes of government control. But it got out of hand, and that’s why regulation became necessary. If we want Bitcoin to truly prosper, a level of oversight is unavoidable, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing now.

I don't see Ross as a hero and i cannot tell you how important he is to the BTC community, it is also obvious that Ross committed a crime, but c'mon, the sentence he got was crazy and unfair. Did Ross deserve to go to jail? Yes, did he deserve two life sentences plus 40 years, hell no. I believe the reason why the BTC community is happy with the pardon is because the initial sentencing was more like the authorities condemning BTC because it was the currency used in the Silk Road.

This was the root of Bitcoin’s bad reputation back in the day when people associated it solely with illegal activities. But we can’t ignore the massive transactions happening in the market at that time, even though the US eventually shut it down. That didn’t stop Bitcoin, it had already proven itself as a decentralized asset with immense potential for transactions.

Fast forward to today, and we’re seeing big companies adopting Bitcoin. Its beginnings may not have been ideal, but the progress and development have been remarkable. And no matter how controversial it is, Ross Ulbricht deserves recognition as one of the key figures who help create more Bitcoin transactions with his platform.

I don't really know exactly Silk Road is, but I think it's important because it's decentralized marketplace where it use Bitcoin as the payment (not sure which other currency they accept). So, it's a good combination, decentralized marketplace and decentralized currency.

Right now it's hard to find decentralized marketplace, even this forum not allow you to buy-sell drugs.

Yeah, Satoshi is also a bad guy because he created Bitcoin which he can't control of any coins he created. He's bad, he should able to freeze tainted coins from mixers, drugs, and high illicit activities.

Silk Road was what onboarded a lot of early adopters to Bitcoin. What Ross ran was very important in the early days & we probably wouldn’t be where we are today without Silk Road. I don’t think today that he has any affect on the Bitcoin price or future of Bitcoin at all. But yes, we have to think of him fondly due to his work & efforts in the early days.

I have a few questions for you.

1. Do you think the ones who gave him the money were old Bitcoin hodlers & people who got profit or changed their lives from Bitcoin itself?
2. Do you know what the butterfly effect is?

---

The community considers him valuable and important because of the actions he took in the past, without condoning the buy and sell of illegal goods or services there. He was one of the early pioneers, and he deserves support. I would like to add one more question for you.

1. Do you think that without Ross Ulbricht & his problems, Bitcoin would be where it's today? I'm talking about the price of Bitcoin.

- Ammar M. A.

It’s nothing personal, but it’s about Ross’s significant contribution to Bitcoin’s transaction system. The problem was, his platform was used for illegal activities. However, the sheer volume of transactions on Silk Road played a big role in making Bitcoin popular. Back then, the government didn’t see Bitcoin as something with future potential, they were against it because they couldn’t monitor the transactions. That’s why Ross ended up in jail, given his major role in Silk Road.

But those days are long gone. Silk Road is now part of Bitcoin’s history, and ironically, the US, which confiscated Bitcoin from back then, now benefits from its current value if they decide to sell it. In my opinion, the time Ross served is enough to pay for his mistakes. Now that Bitcoin is mostly used for legitimate transactions, it’s a sign of how far the space has evolved.

Each persona have different reason. But some part of Bitcoin community view Ross's sentence is extremely severe, when compared with other criminal with similar crime. That makes them think or believe US government intentionally do that to disrupt Bitcoin reputation and usage.

Because they believe Silk road depicted privacy and freedom. The first real free market, not to mention accepted Bitcoin as a means of payment.

For those who truly understand his importance, feel free to share your insights. I notice a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon, treating Ross like some kind of hero. The reality is, this guy was convicted for running a platform involved in illegal drugs, weapons, and other unlawful activities, which led to him being sentenced to double life imprisonment plus an extra 40 years. Recently, he was pardoned by President Trump.

Given that, it’s clear he isn’t exactly the "good guy" some might think. But what’s interesting is why he remains so relevant today despite his past. Being relevant in this context likely means he has gained the love and support of many, with people donating millions to him. That level of support suggests there’s something about him that resonates deeply with others. It would be great to help the community understand what makes him so special now, even if his past actions paint a very different picture.