President Trump's decision to issue a pardon to Ulbricht came after ongoing pressure from his mother, and from Bitcoin-loving libertarians who regarded h

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 .)

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts welcomed President Trump’s pardoning of Ross Ulbricht, who had been serving a life sentence without parole for running underground drug bazaar Silk Ro