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Before Ross Ulbricht’s conviction on charges related to his operation of the darknet market Silk Road, he held 144,000 bitcoins worth $28.5 million. Today, their value would exceed $10 billion.
Ulbricht earned this trove by charging a 10% fee from Silk Road transactions. When the FBI shut down Silk Road for various illegalities, federal agents seized — and stole — any bitcoin they could find.
Also, in a series of bizarre twists, a hacker swiped some of the bitcoin before it could be seized, and North Korean hackers swooped in to take a share.
This mess led the federal government to negotiate an agreement that some misappropriated bitcoin would be used to pay the $183 million in restitution that Ulbricht was required to pay to the US government.
As an illegal enterprise involved in sales of narcotics and firearms, most of the bitcoin on Silk Road went into US court proceedings and has slowly been auctioned off by US Marshalls. Some of it remains in the custody of the US government, pending court proceedings.
The two federal agents who stole bitcoin from Ulbricht’s stash face charges themselves, including wire fraud and money laundering.
The federal government ultimately auctioned off Ulbricht’s bitcoin. Venture capitalist Tim Draper, who won nine of the auctions and a stash of 30,000 bitcoins, has since added his voice to the movement to grant clemency to Ulbricht.
Read more: Supreme Court won’t stop sale of 69,370 Silk Road bitcoins
That movement has gained momentum and has culminated in a solemn, repeated promise from incoming President Donald Trump that he will free Ross Ulbricht from federal prison by January 21, 2025.
Double life sentence could soon be ending
Ulbricht is serving a double life sentence for operating Silk Road. Supporters have called the sentence excessive, especially considering that he is a non-violent offender and prosecutors dropped charges related to allegations that he had hired a hitman.
Since then, Ulbricht has communicated with the outside world through his mother’s X (formerly Twitter) account. Because he has no internet access in prison, he sends paper notes to Lyn Ulbricht, who then posts his words to X.
In the years since his imprisonment, Ulbricht’s mother has led the push for his clemency. Specifically, Lyn wants a US president to commute, not pardon, Ross. This would not undo his conviction yet would allow him to leave prison.
She created a Change.org petition that has received over 600,000 signatures. Signers of the petition claim he is unlikely to become a repeat offender if released.
Tracing the blockchain for Ross Ulbricht’s bitcoin
Lyn has sold Ross’ physical art through a non-profit organization, Art4giving, raising $765,000 on Ulbricht’s behalf for causes such as prevention and treatment of drug addiction and supporting recently released convicts’ efforts to reintegrate into society.
On the blockchain, an NFT featuring Ulbricht’s hand-drawn art from prison has also fetched seven figures at auction. A supporter purchased one of his NFTs, for example, on December 9, 2021, for $4.1 million in ETH via NFT marketplace SuperRare.
Read more: Attorney who kept Ross Ulbricht in prison to lead DoJ crypto task force
However, this considerable donation is not in Ulbricht’s personal possession. Instead, as his website states, “All proceeds raised from the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection NFT auction will not be owned by Ross Ulbricht or his family, but by a legally separate entity that will redistribute proceeds towards the Art4Giving fund and efforts to free Ross Ulbricht.”
FreeRoss.org, Lyn Ulbricht’s website that she operates on behalf of Ross, accepts crypto donations as well. Its listed bitcoin wallet contains 0.14959432 BTC worth $11,500. Donors have also given him 1.5 BCH ($550), 881 DOGE ($150), and 0.19 ETH ($550).
There are several other crypto wallets with smaller amounts of funds, as well, such as Monero and Horizen.
As an important note, most of these wallets hold far less than their lifetime receipts. For example, Ulbricht’s bitcoin wallet has received a total of 12.45 BTC ($950,000) since inception. It is unclear whether these funds remain in his ownership after being swept or if they have already been expended on his clemency or philanthropic efforts over the years.
The blockchain only tells part of the story
Whether Ross or Lyn owns other crypto assets beyond the wallets listed on FreeRoss.org is unclear. Neither he nor his family is required to disclose donations publicly. Although he certainly has millions of supporters around the world — including some of the earliest and most wealthy Bitcoiners — his current assets are unknown.
In any case, Donald Trump promised to pardon Ross Ulbricht at the outset of his second presidential term, and, assuming Trump makes good on that pledge, Ulbricht will also emerge with at least a few thousand dollars — and possibly much more.