Ross Ulbricht pardon odds surge to 95% on Polymarket after Elon Musk comment
Quick Take Polymarket now predicts a 95% chance that U.S. President Donald Trump would pardon Ross Ulbricht, the creator of Silk Road, in his first week in office. Elon Musk stated on X that Ulbricht would be pardoned, which might have driven the odds on Polymarket to surge. Although Trump promised to pardon Ulbricht on the first day of his second term as President, that day has passed without any official statement.
The odds of U.S. President Donald Trump commuting Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht's sentence during his first week in office surged to 95% on Polymarket, after Elon Musk stated that the clemency would occur.
At 9 p.m. ET on Monday, Tesla CEO and Trump ally Musk wrote in a reply to another user's post on X that "Ross will be freed too."
Shortly after, the decentralized prediction market platform saw the odds of Ulbricht being pardoned during Trump’s first week rise from 54% to the current 95%. The bets on the specific pardon have reached a volume of $51,367.
Another Polymarket bet predicting potential pardons during the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency assigned Ulbricht a 97% likelihood of receiving a pardon, supported by a total betting volume of $5 million.
Ulbricht was arrested in 2013 and convicted in 2015 for creating and operating the darknet market Silk Road, which facilitated the sale of illegal products such as narcotics, with transactions conducted with bitcoin. Ulbricht is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
A petition calling for clemency for Ulbricht on freeross.org has gathered over 600,000 signatures since his incarceration. The petition has garnered support from those who argue his life sentence is excessive and unjust, and from some bitcoiners that uphold Silk Road’s libertarian ideals.
In May last year, Trump said he would commute the Silk Road creator’s sentence on his first day in office if reelected, to which Ulbricht expressed his gratitude via X. However, the U.S. President has yet to make an official announcement regarding Ulbricht.
In his latest X post on Monday, Ulbricht posted a disclaimer distancing himself from any cryptocurrency or a memecoin that uses his name, saying that there is no official “Ross coin.”
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
You may also like
Trump Plans Midterm Elections Again: Announces $200 Billion Korean Investment in the US, with $54 Billion Allocated to Alaska LNG
This investment marks the official announcement of the first batch of large-scale strategic investment projects under last year’s US-Korea trade agreement framework. In addition to the Alaska LNG project, the investments also include the construction of eight large nuclear power stations, as well as a 6 GW gas-fired power facility in Texas. Alaska’s election situation is currently close; Republican Senator Dan Sullivan has been a longtime supporter of the project and is facing a re-election challenge from Democratic candidate Mary Peltola.
The Fed's favorite inflation indicator comes in below expectations; Goldman Sachs no longer expects a rate hike in October
Goldman Sachs: A rate hike in October is unlikely, and the second rate hike may be postponed until December.
Ford (F.US) 45% Gains Wiped Out: AI "Windfall" Expectations Fizzle, Stock Price Falls Below $12
Due to increasing economic pressure faced by U.S. automakers and waning market expectations for Ford (F.US) to reap substantial gains from the AI boom, Ford's previous strong rally has now been completely erased.
Crypto prices
More
