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.

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.

Fulfilling a campaign promise to libertarians and the bitcoin community, the Silk Road founder's life sentence without parole is now over.

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.

Ross Ulbricht is free, but unproven allegations against the Silk Road founder overshadow his well deserved pardon in some corners of the internet.

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.

Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 on charges related to his website, where users could buy and sell drugs and other illegal goods with bitcoin.

Those who convicted Ulbricht were "some of the same lunatics involved in the modern-day weaponization of government against me," Trump wrote Tuesday.

Bitcoin is up nearly 5% after Donald Trump granted a full and unconditional pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the creator of darkweb marketplace Silk Road.

Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the illegal drug marketplace Silk Road, expressed gratitude on Thursday after being pardoned by President Donald Trump. What happened: In his first public statement after being granted a full and unconditional pardon,

Bitcoin’s march toward mainstream acceptance is well underway, and those paying attention stand to benefit the most.