Silk Road founder marks 10 years into his double life sentence in prison
The founder of the former online black market Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, marked 10 years behind bars after he was given a double life sentence by United States authorities in 2013.
On Oct. 2 Ulbricht posted on X that he has already spent a full decade in prison and fears he will spend the remainder of his life “behind concrete walls and locked doors.” He said all he can do now is “pray for mercy.”
One year for each finger on both hands.
Today ends a full decade in prison.
I sometimes fear I'll spend the rest of my life behind concrete walls and locked doors. But I have no one else to blame. It's my poor choices that led me here.
All I can do now is pray for mercy.
Silk Road began in 2011 and was run and operated by Ulbricht from his personal laptop under the username “Dread Pirate Roberts.” It is known as the first modern darknet market and had a payment system built on Bitcoin (BTC).
However, on Oct. 1, 2023, the laptop was seized by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 in federal court in the U.S. for various charges relating to the operations of the Silk Road. He was sentenced to two life terms, plus forty years and no possibility of parole.
According to the court documents for the case, while in operation the Silk Road site facilitated sales amounting to 9,519,664 Bitcoins (BTC) between February 2011 and July 2013, and took a commission of 600,000 Bitcoins (BTC).
At the time of publication of the court documents, this equaled approximately $1.2 billion in sales and around $80 million in commissions.
Related: September becomes the biggest month for crypto exploits in 2023: CertiK
Ulbricht’s case has received widespread attention, with many echoing calls for the website’s
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