Kraken ramps up donations to Ulbricht amid $47M wallet rumors

Crypto exchange Kraken disclosed on X that it has made a donation to the newly freed Ross Ulbricht to help the Silk Road founder land on his feet.

The exchange sent $111,111 in Bitcoin (BTC) to the address on freeross.org, which claims to be Ulbricht’s official website and offers ways for people to contribute to the creator of the darknet marketplace.

According to Mempool’s Bitcoin blockchain explorer, 93 donations have already been made at the time of writing through the page for a total of 2.5 BTC, or $261,000.

US President Donald Trump pardoned Ulbricht on his second day in office, fulfilling a campaign promise made primarily to libertarians and the crypto community. Ulbricht had served 12 years in prison dating back to his arrest in October 2013 and had been sentenced to double life imprisonment without parole plus 40 years — a punishment many believed was too harsh for nonviolent offenses.

President Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social after the commutation that it was his pleasure to have signed a full and unconditional pardon of Ulbricht, whose sentence he called “ridiculous.”

Kraken’s donation came as Conor Grogan, a Coinbase executive, said that wallets left behind by Ulbricht (and not seized by the US government) held BTC worth $47 million as of Jan. 22. While the BTC would have been considered “dust” in 2013 when the government arrested Ulbricht, it has since risen in value after various crypto market cycles.

While Grogan cast doubt that Ulbricht still had the keys to access the wallets, he wrote, “We will know soon enough,” indicating that the cryptocurrency in those wallets could be on the move now that Ulbricht has his freedom.

President Trump’s pardoning of Ulbricht has put a spotlight on Silk Road again and its indelible impact on the public’s consciousness. Some believe Ulbricht was persecuted for his role as an early crypto builder rather than for any harm he caused society. As Cointelegraph reported earlier on the day, Hollywood directors revealed that an Ulbricht documentary is already in post-production.

The crypto community’s response on X to the pardoning has been generally exuberant. Many see it as confirmation that President Trump will keep his promises and that digital assets-related executive orders, like one for a strategic Bitcoin reserve, are on the way.

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