Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht who is currently serving a double sentence in prison for his role in running a distribution network that allows buying and selling hard drugs through the use of Bitcoin made a statement on Friday describing his emotions on the eve of his 10th year in prison.
According to a Twitter post via his account run by a loved one, Ross shared that he regrets his actions as the mastermind of Silk Road. He admitted to having caused a lot of pain and ruined his life when he looked back at his many errors.
Ulbricht was arrested and sentenced to life in prison on seven charges in 2013; distribution of narcotics, distribution of narcotics over the Internet, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, furthering a criminal enterprise, conspiracy to hack a computer, conspiracy to smuggle using false identification, and money laundering.
Ulbricht received proceeds through Bitcoin from about 1,229,465 transactions over the two-year operation from his ‘darknet’ website as stated by court documents.
The Silk Road founder is still very much present in the crypto space despite his sentence. He introduced a decentralized social protocol (DSP) in 2021 stating how it will operate and the problems to solve.
Support for Ulbricht
Ulbricht has continued to receive support from crypto enthusiasts around the globe. Most of his supporters feel his sentence is unfair and therefore deserves a second chance.
The ‘ClemencyForRoss’ support group on Twitter made a Twitter post on Friday stating that Ulbricht doesn’t deserve to die in prison because he is a first-time offender, his charges were non-violent and he has shown an exemplary life by giving help to others in prison.
According to a news report by Blockchain.News, a billboard in Times Square was rented for several months in 2020 by Ulbricht’s supporters to campaign for his release.
Some of Ulbricht’s supporters believe that he only created a safe space for conducting business and the government is only after him because they didn’t get a share from his proceeds.
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Source: https://blockchain.news/news/silk-roads-ross-ulbricht-apologizes-to-the-public-on-the-eve-of-his-10th-year-in-prison