Ross Ulbricht’s first hopes for clemency died when a mob of Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Trump had planned to commute the life sentence of the founder of the Silk Road online drug bazaar at the end of his first term,

Ulbricht, who was convicted of running an anonymous online drug marketplace, became a hero to crypto-holders everywhere. What does his pardon signal for the future of the technology?

The president granted the unconditional release of the online drug impresario as a favor to libertarians and cryptocurrency partisans.

Bitcoiners celebrate as the pardon came hours after Senator Rand Paul sent a compelling letter to the White House.

President Donald Trump issued a pardon to Ross Ulbricht, who ran the dark web marketplace Silk Road under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts.” Ulbricht has been serving a life sentence without parole since 2015,

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison for running an underground online marketplace where drug dealers and others conducted more than $200 million in illicit trade using bitcoin.

Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 on charges related to his website, where users could buy and sell drugs and other illegal goods with bitcoin.

The pardon is a big deal for cryptocurrency enthusiasts and libertarians, who have been pushing for Ulbricht’s sentence to be absolved for years.

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he had pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground website for selling drugs.