Donald Trump pledges to free Ross Ulbricht, stop CBDCs, and support self custody in speech to Libertarian Convention
Quick Take
- Donald Trump has become the first candidate from the two major parties to endorse clemency for Ross Ulbricht, who has served 11 years of a life sentence for creating the dark web marketplace Silk Road.
- Trump’s remarks on Ulbricht and crypto won cheers from a skeptical crowd of Libertarian Party members.
Former President and current leading Republican candidate Donald Trump faced boos and jeers throughout his unprecedented address to the Libertarian Party's convention last night, the first address by a major party's candidate to the convention of a rival.
"I think you should nominate me or at least vote for me and we should win together...What is the purpose of the Libertarian Party getting 3% [of the vote]?" Trump declared early on to a chorus of boos. Trump's pledge to appoint a Libertarian to a cabinet post and "Libertarians in senior posts" received a more varied mix of cheers and jeers, as did many of his policy pronouncements.
Yet Trump scored major points with the audience when, about three-quarters of the way into his 40-minute address, Trump touched briefly on crypto policy, pledging to support the crypto industry and to commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht "on day one," a favorite cause among Libertarian Party members.
Trump's pledge to commute Ulbricht's sentence, the first by a major Republican or Democratic candidate, lead to nearly half a minute of exuberant cheers of "Free Ross!" from the audience, many of whom wielded signs with the slogan. Ulbricht is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for his role in creating and operating the dark web marketplace Silk Road, a site integrally tied to Bitcoin's early history.
Trump had reportedly considered clemency for Ulbricht at the end of his Presidential term, according to contemporaneous media reports, with Ulbricht's cause winning support from significant Trump advisors. However, Trump left office without taking any action for Ulbricht, who was known pseudonymously as "Dread Pirate Roberts."
Trump pledges end of "crusade to crush crypto"
Trump's remarks on crypto served mostly to set up his opposition with the current regime. Reading from the teleprompter, Trump promised to stop "Joe Biden's crusade to crush crypto" by ensuring the future of crypto will not be "driven overseas," support the right to self-custody, and prevent the development of a CBDC. "To the nation's fifty million crypto holders I say this: with your vote, I will keep Elizabeth Warren and her goons away from your Bitcoin," Trump declared.
The brief remarks were the only crypto-related statements Trump made in the speech, one of his shortest campaign speeches to date. Trump appears to be warming towards crypto in recent weeks; once a Bitcoin skeptic, Trump's campaign recently announced it would accept donations in crypto and Trump posted an endorsement of the crypto industry on the social media site Truth Social shortly before his Libertarian Convention address.
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