Stay united: Ross Ulbricht’s heartfelt message for Bitcoin
Silk Road founder Ulbricht made a triumphant return to the Bitcoin Conference, 10 years on from sentencing
Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht | Ulbricht Family, modified by Blockworks
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After Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht dialed into the Bitcoin Conference from prison in 2021, he quickly found himself in solitary confinement.
It was obvious punishment. Ross was then placed under increased surveillance for the rest of his time behind bars — a direct result of his communication with the Bitcoin community.
Four years later, on Thursday afternoon, Ross stood on the conference stage in Las Vegas for Bitcoin 2025, in what he described as a “mirror image of that day.”
“You know what, I’m glad I did it [dial into Bitcoin 2021]. I am. Connecting with you that day felt so, so good, because it was like a small part of me had broken beyond the prison walls and escaped only for a little while.”
Well, the rest of Ross finally caught up.
Poetically enough, yesterday was 10 years to the day that Ulbricht was handed a double life sentence (plus 40 years) without parole.
“I was just 31 years old. If [the judge] and all the others behind my prosecution had their way, I would have grown old and eventually died still in prison. Instead, I’m here with you,” Ross said.
He wore a formal black suit, white shirt, red tie and shiny black shoes. But he was comfortable.
Bitcoin is, of course, very different now than when Ross was arrested in October 2013.
There were no Strategys buying up hundreds of thousands of coins, or government-controlled strategic bitcoin reserves. No CoinJoin or Lightning Network, either, and definitely no Ordinals.
Not to mention, there were fewer than 40 cryptocurrencies on the market at the time, with bitcoin dominance at more than 90%. The price of each coin was around $120, giving BTC a $1.6 billion market cap. Number-two XRP was far off in the distance with $100 million.
“I effectively went into a time capsule in 2013, and now I’m coming out like Rip Van Winkle. I mean, just a few months ago when I walked out of prison,” Ross said. “I’d never seen a drone. I had never experienced AI. I still haven’t [experienced] VR, the headsets, yeah, I haven’t done that yet. I had never chatted with AI.”
“It’s all hitting me at once, freedom. The new technology, the fact that I have a future again. It’s a lot. It’s a lot. I mean, I was in prison and now I get to live through this incredible time with you. What a blessing. What a miracle. What a gift.”
With deep gratitude, Ross recounted the ways that the Bitcoin community fought for his release. He received letters and funding for his legal defense, and they defended his legacy while he couldn’t.
He said: “You even got President Trump to see that Bitcoin is the future. Yeah, you did that. You got him to see that decentralization and freedom are our future. You said, ‘Ross is one of us.’ You stayed united. You said, ‘We want Ross out here with us.’ You said, ‘Free Ross.’ You did this.”
But Bitcoin was simply paying it all back. Silk Road was arguably Bitcoin’s first killer app. It was Ross and Ross alone who showed the world the power of Bitcoin, both as magic internet money and a tool for freedom without compromise.
“[David Bailey] said, ‘Ross, you took Bitcoin from 0 to 1. And while you were in prison, we, the community — all of you — we took it from 1 to 10. But we still need to go from 10 to 100,’” he said.
There were three core principles of Bitcoin that Ross championed in his speech: freedom, decentralization and unity. Each one reinforces the other, making them critical to maintain as Bitcoin evolves through its next great epoch.
“We can argue all day, but please, never see each other as enemies. Those that oppose decentralization and freedom love it when we’re divided, I promise you. So stay united. So long as we can agree that we deserve freedom and that decentralization is how we secure it, and we can be united, we can have each other’s backs. Just like you had mine,” Ross said.
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