Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was given two life sentences in 2015, thanks President Donald Trump for giving him a "second chance" with unconditional pardon.

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,

In 2015, a federal judge in Manhattan sentenced Ulbricht to life in prison for drug trafficking, computer hacking and money laundering.

"Donald Trump is a man of his word," the Silk Road founder said in a video published on X hours after release from prison.

Donald Trump has offered a flurry of pardons since taking office earlier this week, including one for the Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht.

Until, of course, in 2013 the Silk Road was shut down by FBI agents and Mr Ulbricht, then 29 years old, was arrested in the science-fiction section of a San Francisco public library. In 2015, after a four-week trial,

Ross Ulbricht, founder of Silk Road, a first of its kind in the modern era, thanked President Donald Trump for setting him free and hinted at what he has planned for his future.

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.

In a move that has sparked debate, President Donald Trump granted a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road dark web marketplace, who had been serving two life sentences plus 40 years for enabling the illegal trade of drugs and other illicit goods. People using his site traded in bitcoin to avoid detection.

Law enforcement said Ulbricht created the “most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace” on the internet.

Fulfilling a campaign promise to libertarians and the bitcoin community, the Silk Road founder's life sentence without parole is now over.

In 2015, a 31-year-old yoga enthusiast from Austin named Ross Ulbricht was found guilty of being the online drug kingpin “Dread Pirate Roberts.” Convicted on 7 counts, the judge sentenced him to life in prison. Trump pardoned Ulbricht on Tuesday and now he’s a free man after more than 10 years in custody.