Ross Ulbricht was serving a life sentence for creating a site in a shady corner of the internet to sell heroin, cocaine and other illicit substances.

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

On Wednesday, the price of bitcoin jumped to more than $104,000, following Donald Trump’s announcement of a presidential pardon for Silk Road and bitcoin-libertarian folk hero Ross Ulbricht. The digital asset community also eagerly anticipated a flood of crypto executive orders that would overturn years of perceived regulatory slights.

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 .)

Donald Trump has given a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht — the man responsible for founding world's first darknet market Silk Road.

President Donald Trump has pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of darknet market Silk Road, fulfilling a campaign promise. Trump issued the order on Tuesday, the second day of his second administration.

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.

Libertarian activists, who generally oppose criminal drug policies, argued the government overreached in building its case against Ross Ulbricht and the dark web marketplace Silk Road.

President Donald Trump signed executive actions related to cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence, moves that could bolster two nascent industries.

The new EO will also establish a presidential working group to create a federal regulatory framework governing digital assets (including stablecoins), and evaluate the creation of a strategic national digital assets stockpile.

An executive order signed by President Donald Trump establishes a Presidential Working Group on Digital Asset Markets to advise on crypto policy. The group, led by David Sacks, will include industry leaders and focus on exploring a national reserve for digital assets.