Should Trump Pardon Assange, Ulbricht And Snowden? Cryptocurrency Leaders Think So

Well-known personalities in the cryptocurrency industry are imploring President Donald Trump to grant clemency to Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, editor, publisher and activist Julian Assange, and whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Less than two months before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, various prominent figures in the cryptocurrency world implored Trump to “do the right thing” by pardoning the three controversial figures, Cointelegraph reported.

According to podcaster and analyst Peter McCormack, Trump’s legacy as president may be remembered very differently if he pardoned the three people. “Humanity would only benefit from this,” he said on Twitter.

Morgan Creek Capital Co-founder Jason Williams mentioned Snowden and Ulbricht after news broke out that Trump pardoned Michael Flynn, the president’s former national security adviser. “Go out on top. The leader you believe you are and the leader you want people to think you are,” he said on Twitter, tagging the president on the tweet. Other personalities like Roger Ver and Anthony Pompliano have also voiced their support.

Ulbricht founded Silk Road in 2011, a black market known as a platform where people could buy and sell illegal drugs and unlawful goods and services online, with Bitcoin being used as a method of payment. In October 2013, the FBI arrested Ulbricht and shut down the darknet market. Ulbrich is now serving two life sentences and cannot be paroled. At this point, he has run out of all legal options, so the only thing that can grant him freedom is a pardon from the U.S. president. His mother, Lyn, champions a petition on change.org, arguing that Ulbricht received an extreme sentence, and hoping enough signature could get the president to issue clemency. As of today, more than 362,000 individuals have signed the petition.

Assange, who founded Wikileaks and in 2019, was charged by the U.S. government with violating the Espionage Act of 1917. He is currently in a prison in the U.K. awaiting a court decision on whether he will be extradited to the U.S. to face the charge.

Snowden faced similar charges from the U.S. government. He was granted political asylum in Russia. Still, when the topic of pardon is brought up, Snowden was quick to advocate for Assange to receive clemency instead of himself. “Mr. President, if you grant only one act of clemency during your time in office, please: free Julian Assange. You alone can save his life,” he wrote in a tweet to Trump.

There is no limit to who the president of the United States can grant pardon to, although questions remain whether the current president might use the pardon to grant clemency to himself. With less than two months in office, it remains to be seen whether Trump will grant more pardons before January 20.