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Free Ross Ulbricht

What Bitcoin Did Podcast: The Supreme Courts Denial of Ross Ulbricht's Petition with Lyn Ulbricht

If you're a Bitcoiner then you should know who Ross Ulbricht is and what Silk Road was. If you don't, please continue reading because it's important.

What was Silk Road?

• Silk Road was created in 2011 to be an e-commerce marketplace where you can buy and sell goods, whether legal or not
• It incorporated two key pieces of technology that had the capability of avoiding government regulation: Tor and Bitcoin
• The entire project was based on the libertarian philosophy of  non-aggression principle and voluntary interaction which means that as long as no third party was harmed, the transaction is allowed
• For example, if two people wanted to exchange marijuana that was fine but stolen items and child pornography were prohibited because someone would have been harmed or defrauded
• Silk Road also hosted a number of legal stuff like books and electronics but the primary attraction for many users was drugs
• The site was eventually taken down on 1st October 2013, two and a half years after it launched

Who is Ross Ulbricht?

• Ross Ulbricht was the guy who created Silk Road
• He was arrested in 2013 and two years later a federal judge found him guilty on seven charges
• In May 2015, Ross was sentenced to two life imprisonment terms plus 40 years, to be served concurrently with no chance of parole 
• Ross was an idealistic libertarian. All he wanted was to create an economic simulation to give people a first-hand experience of what it would be like to live in a world without the systemic use of force

Okay, let's acknowledge the obvious: Did Ross break the law? Well, he knowingly profited from the sale of illegal drugs so he's not entirely innocent. But did he deserve to serve a life sentence? Absolutely not, especially for someone who's a first-time offender with non-violent charges.

Ross Ulbricht is condemned to die in prison not because of selling drugs but for what others sold on the site he created. None of the actual drug sellers received sentences above ten years including those behind Silk Road 2.0. Ross' only hope right now is for the President of the United States to grant him clemency.

Silk Road was perhaps the actual first use case of Bitcoin. While you are celebrating your gains, let's not forget those who believed in it.

P.S. A lot of sketchy stuff went down during the investigation and trial, read the real, untold story here.

#FREEROSS

Before you go...

• Check out issue #32 where we talked about Bitcoin Beach 🏄‍♂️
  
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