The Silk Road founder could be one of the world's richest people if he gets his bitcoin back from the U.S government.

Looking exhausted and relieved, the Silk Road founder said his release feels "amazing"—and that he now plans to spend time with his family.

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

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.

Donald Trump pardoned the creator of the world’s first dark-web drug market, who is now a libertarian cause célèbre in some parts of the crypto community.

Ulbricht, 40, was about 10 years into his life sentence for helming an online black market where drug dealers, money launderers, and traffickers used bitcoins to mask more than $214 million in illicit trades. (Ars thoroughly documented the Silk Road saga here .)

President Donald Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the drug marketplace Silk Road who is revered by many cryptocurrency enthusiasts and Libertarians. “I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright to let her know,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, misspelling Ulbricht’s name.

President Donald Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road marketplace, delivering on a campaign promise he made to court the cryptocurrency community and libertarian voters.

A fundraiser for the founder of the world’s first darknet black market Silk Road saw more than a quarter million dollars of donations.

Bitcoin soars to $108,899 on inauguration day, followed by Ross Ulbricht’s pardon, new SEC crypto regulations, legislative advances by Senator Lummis, and a violent attack on a Ledger wallet founder.

Ross Ulbricht, behind bars for 11 years, had been serving a double life sentence for his role in the dark web marketplace where illicit activities