Ross Ulbricht’s Pardon Odds Soar Following Elon Musk’s Remark
The likelihood of Donald Trump commuting the sentence of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht during his first week in office has surged, hitting 95% on the prediction platform Polymarket.
This spike followed a statement from Elon Musk, who wrote on X, “Ross will be freed too,” in response to a user’s post.
Polymarket’s odds for Ulbricht’s pardon jumped from 54% to 95% within hours, with betting volumes on the specific clemency reaching over $51,000. Another bet on Trump granting high-profile pardons within his first 100 days assigns Ulbricht a 97% probability, supported by a staggering $5 million in total wagers.
The Story Behind Ulbricht’s Case
Ulbricht, arrested in 2013 and convicted in 2015, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for running Silk Road, a darknet marketplace that facilitated illegal transactions using Bitcoin. While his supporters argue that the sentence is disproportionate, others point to the platform’s role in enabling illicit activities.
READ MORE: Mark Uyeda Named SEC Acting Chair Amid Speculation on Crypto Agenda
A petition on freeross.org advocating for clemency has garnered over 600,000 signatures, with many viewing Ulbricht as a victim of excessive punishment. Bitcoin advocates and libertarians have also rallied behind the cause, seeing Silk Road as an early embodiment of decentralized ideals.
Trump’s Past Comments and Future Action
Last year, Trump publicly expressed his intent to commute Ulbricht’s sentence if reelected, a promise that fueled optimism among Ulbricht’s supporters. Despite this, no official announcement has yet been made. Meanwhile, Ulbricht recently clarified via X that he has no connection to any cryptocurrency or token bearing his name, distancing himself from rumors of a “Ross coin.”
As anticipation builds, both supporters and skeptics are closely watching to see whether Trump will act on his previous pledge to grant Ulbricht clemency.
Alexander Stefanov
Reporter at CoinsPress
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coinspress and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
