Disclaimer

This is an opinion piece engaging the author and author-only viewpoint.

By Maxime Pierre

Every year, the largest crypto conference called Bitcoin202? is held in the United States, gathering cryptocurrency enthusiasts, retail investors, major exchange platforms, and a flurry of prominent guest speakers [1]. Most would remember last year’s iteration which officially sealed the love affair between then presidential candidate Donald Trump and the crypto community. He vowed in front of a jubilant crowd to create a “strategic federal Bitcoin reserve”, as well as to put an end to Gary Gensler’s tenure as the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – crypto’s arch-nemesis [2]. If Donald Trump was the main attraction during last year’s edition, in 2025, a different speaker caught the media’s attention. He was a revenant from a time when crypto was still in its infancy: Ross Ulbricht, the recently freed founder of the defunct Silk Road online black market [3].

Founded in 2011 by then 27-year-old Ulbricht, the Silk Road set out to anonymously connect buyers (of mostly drugs) and sellers (mostly of drugs as well) online through Bitcoin’s blockchain technology. It was shut down by authorities in 2013, and in 2015 Mr Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison for drug trafficking, computer hacking and money laundering. In the eyes of the Bitcoiners of the world, his harsh sentencing – which allegedly even shocked prosecutors – is the embodiment of government overreach and centralization of power [4]. He was bound to remain behind bars for the remainder of his life. However, since the official start of President Trump’s campaign in 2024, Ulbricht’s family and allies began lobbying for clemency, betting on the rise of a crypto-friendly president. After nearly 10 years behind bars, his persistence paid off: a day only after the election, he walked free with a full presidential pardon [2].  

The story of Ulbricht’s rise and fall, his online drug market empire and the complex investigation leading up to his arrest were deemed Hollywood worthy, with a movie about The Silk Road released in theaters in 2021 [5]. But his pardon would make an equally captivating sequel. In that imagined follow-up, World Liberty Financial – President Trump’s very own crypto venture – would take center stage. 

Rewinding to President Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, one industry swiftly became the number one donor, above oil and pharmaceuticals, with a whopping $245 million contribution to industry-friendly candidates: Crypto [6]. Embraced by the industry, President Trump benefited greatly from this support, and has returned the favor with sweeping deregulation of digital assets. The results for the industry have been staggering so far, with bitcoin prices nearly doubling since the election, high-profile cases against crypto exchange Binance, Ripple Labs and Crypto mogul Justin Sun being dropped [7] [8] [9], and a volley of executive pardons like the ones of the co-founders of Bitmex, Trevor Milton, and ultimately Ross Ulbricht. Even Sam Bankman-Fried – who is behind the $40 billion crypto exchange Ponzi scheme FTX – is allegedly plotting a presidential pardon, without success thus far [10] [11] [12]. 

On the regulatory front, agencies have been hollowed-out, many officials being replaced with President Trump’s sycophants, who are in charge of overseeing the very industry they, or their relatives, hold stakes in. The new White House-appointed “Ai & Crypto Czar” David Sacks epitomizes the blurred line between public duty and private gain. While he claimed to have divested fully from all his crypto and AI holdings before his nomination – totalling at $200 million – a democrat-led ethics probe was launched this month over his continued ties to those same ventures [13].  

This symbiosis between the White House and the crypto world might seem like textbook political quid-pro-quo: “We fund your campaign, you deliver favorable policy”. But in his second term President Trump pushed the model further by launching his own crypto enterprise. Him, his sons, and business partners have profited enormously from it since.  

This past August, a New Yorker investigation into all of President Trump’s ventures found that, thanks to his presidency, he was able to amass an estimated $3.3 billion since taking office, 70% of which from his crypto businesses (or $2.4 billion). That tally includes revenues from the Trump media crypto, Trump$ and Melania$ meme coins, plus trading commissions, token investment, American Bitcoin, NFTs – all under the World Liberty Financial banner [14]. 

In May, Sheikh Tanhnoon – who is handling the United Arab Emirates 1 trillion dollar wealth fund – pledged to take a $2 billion stake in Binance (the n°1 Crypto exchange worldwide) through USD1 stable coins, issued by World Liberty Financial (WLF) [15]. The deal alone promised tens of millions in annual management fees. If that operation did not raise enough eyebrows already, due to the obvious conflict of interest with Binance ongoing legal woes in the US, it was revealed by the New York Times that weeks after this extraordinary announcement (for WLF), the United States would allow the sales of advanced chips to the Emirate’s AI ventures, which was restricted until then due to technology transfer risks with China [15]. Those concerns, raised by National Security Council members, were brushed aside, as President Trump fired 6 of its most vocal members shortly after meeting the Sheikh in Washington.

The dizzying gains for Trump & Co. over the past nine months by monetising the Oval office are the perfect illustration of cryptocurrencies’ natural tendency to attract unscrupulous actors. Bitcoin, which was once the brainchild of an anonymous idealist in the wake of the 2008 subprime crisis, has entered its most concerning stage: institutionalization [16]. The paradox of an anti-establishment, libertarian technology being embraced by the very forces it tried to fight is peak irony, but a logical development. Time and again, the industry has surrendered to greed. Every failed enterprise in the field has been shrugged off as the necessary “bad apple” in cryptocurrencies’ relentless rise – but there seem to be quite a few spoiled fruits in the tree. That same rhetoric was applied to the Silk Road, as it was to NFTs and Memecoins, similarly to FTX or Terra Luna (and the list goes on) [17]. Will World Liberty Financial be the next “bad apple”? Truthfully, the only difference between those is the scale of the grift [18]. 

The archetype of this unchecked avidity for greenbacks is the conference’s star speaker: Michael Saylor, the creator and CEO of MicroStrategy. His business model goes as follows: the company raises capital to buy Bitcoin (at near zero interest rate), then issues crypto bonds valued at or above those holdings, which in turn drives up Bitcoin’s price – and with it, MicroStrategy’s valuation. The cycle repeats as the firm issues more stock to finance additional purchases. Mr Saylor himself non-ironically dubbed it the “infinite money glitch” [19]. Not illegal in itself (due to lagging regulations), it is hard to discern how the practice generates any real economic value beyond inflating the portfolios of large Bitcoin holders. 

Grift is not a bug of Crypto, but a feature. This is what happens when deregulation, decentralization, and anonymity are the organizing principles of finance. It has never ended well as seen in the dot-com bubble or the subprime crisis, but few profited on the way up. 

Amidst this contentious environment, pardoning Ross Ulbricht amongst other figures is simply another dog whistle to a crypto industry that Trump is propping up for his own gain.  

Edited by Justine Dukmedjian.

References

[1] Bitcoin Magazine. (2025, May 30). Ross Ulbricht: Freedom, Decentralization, Unity [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZZGRA-8ZMU

[2] NBC News. (2025, May 18). Trump hails crypto at largest Bitcoin conference. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-hails-crypto-largest-bitcoin-conference-rcna163925

[3] New York Times. (2025, September 7). Ross Ulbricht eyes a comeback as crypto’s prodigal son. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/technology/ross-ulbricht-silk-road-comeback.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

[4] Rushe, D. (2015, May 29). Silk Road’s Ross Ulbricht sentenced to life in prison for dark web drug crimes. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/29/silk-road-ross-ulbricht-sentenced

[5] Winter, T. (Director). (2021). Silk Road [Film]. Lionsgate. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7937254/

[6] Franck, T. (2024, November 5). Crypto’s $245 million campaign finance operation funded non-crypto ads. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/05/cryptos-245-million-campaign-finance-operation-funded-non-crypto-ads.html

[7] PoliticoPro. (2025, May 5). SEC to dismiss Binance litigation. PoliticoPro. https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025/05/sec-to-dismiss-binance-litigation-00375370

[8] AOL News. (2025, May 5). SEC drops case against crypto. AOL. https://www.aol.com/sec-drops-case-against-crypto-002025577.html?guccounter=1

[9] CNN Business. (2025, February 28). Crypto mogul faces Trump-coins civil fraud charges. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/28/business/crypto-mogul-trump-coins-civil-fraud-charges

[10] Franck, T. (2025, March 28). Trump pardons BitMEX cofounders in crypto money laundering case. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/28/trump-pardon-bitmex-crypto-exchange-money-laundering.html

[11] Kollewe, J. (2025, March 28). Trump pardons Nikola founder Trevor Milton. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/mar/28/trump-pardons-nikola-founder

[12] New York Times. (2025, March 7). Sam Bankman-Fried seeks Trump pardon, so far without success. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/technology/sam-bankman-fried-pardon-trump.html

[13] Nextgov. (2025, September 10). Democrats launch ethics investigation into AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks. Nextgov. https://www.nextgov.com/people/2025/09/democrats-launch-ethics-investigation-ai-and-crypto-czar-david-sacks/408175/

[14] The New Yorker. (2025, August 18). The number: How Trump turned crypto into billions. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/08/18/the-number

[15] Wong, E., & Haberman, M. (2025, September 15). Trump, UAE deals, and chips: Questions over tech transfer risks. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/us/politics/trump-uae-chips-witkoff-world-liberty.html

[16] Investopedia. (2024, March 22). Satoshi Nakamoto. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/satoshi-nakamoto.asp

[17] Briola, A., Vidal-Tomás, D., Wang, Y., & Aste, T. (2023). Anatomy of a stablecoin’s failure: The Terra-Luna case. Finance Research Letters, 51, 103358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2022.103358  

[18] M.A.B.V. Pierre (2024, December 1). Crypto’s wild west. Sadsamba.com. https://sadsamba.com/cryptos-wild-west/  

[19] Financial Times. (2025, April 12). Michael Saylor on the “infinite money glitch” [Video]. FT. https://www.ft.com/video/4d1a1666-20d4-4930-ab80-eda742640f16?playlist-name=latest&playlist-offset=20

[Cover image] ““Bitcoin conference”, 2024 (https://www.pexels.com/fr-fr/photo/signe-enseigne-industrie-technologie-27440061/) by Sami Abdulah

(https://www.pexels.com/fr-fr/@onbab/) licensed under Pexels.