Those allegations murder-for-hires, in fact, dissuaded the first Trump administration from granting clemency to Ulbricht: The White House in 2020 considered freeing Ulbricht but ultimately rejected the idea because of the alleged role of violence in the case, according to one former government official involved in the process who spoke to WIRED on condition of anonymity.

Since then, however, the Trump administration has shifted its stance on Ulbricht’s case—in part, perhaps, due to its embrace of the libertarian cryptocurrency community, for whom Ulbricht has become a martyr and cause célèbre. At the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, DC last May, then-presidential candidate Trump promised to commute Ulbricht’s sentence “on day one” if reelected. (Ultimately, day one passed with no clemency for Ulbricht, even as Trump pardoned more than a thousand participants in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol, though Trump ally Elon Musk promised in a post to X on Monday evening that “Ross will be freed too.”)

Just what role Ulbricht will play in the free world is far from clear. Even in his statement to the judge at his sentencing hearing in 2015, Ulbricht never fully acknowledged the harm inflicted by the Silk Road’s drug sales and still shows little remorse for his actions in his account’s public posts to X, Jared Der-Yeghiayan, a former Homeland Security Investigations agent who infiltrated the Silk Road undercover as part of the case against Ulbricht told WIRED in November

“The idea of him being released doesn’t bother me in the least,” says Der-Yeghiayan, who now works as the head of strategic intelligence at cryptocurrency tracing firm Chainalysis. “I do get bothered if there’s now a perception that he did nothing wrong, that doesn’t acknowledge the facts of the case.”

Among some advocates of criminal justice reform, however, Ulbricht has become an exemplar of over-sentencing, particularly given that he was technically charged with nonviolent crimes. “Ross has served more than enough time. He has been a model prisoner. He’s a first-time, nonviolent offender. He poses zero safety risk to the community,” Alice Johnson, CEO of the justice reform foundation Taking Action for Good told WIRED in November. Johnson, spent two decades in prison herself for attempted possession with intent to distribute before her life sentence was commuted by Trump in 2018 and pardoned in 2020. “I believe that Ross’ case is going to pave the way for many others who have been unjustly given these draconian sentences to come home.”

On Tuesday night, Ulbricht’s supporters celebrated his freedom and voiced their gratitude to Trump for his clemency. “Words cannot express how grateful we are,” reads a tweet from @Free_Ross, an X account devoted to the more than decade-long effort on Ulbricht’s behalf. “President Trump is a man of his word and he just saved Ross’s life. ROSS IS A FREE MAN!!!!!”

Additional reporting by Joel Khalili

President Trump has followed through on one of his key campaign promises — at least for those in the crypto community — pardoning the sentence of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.

“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbricht to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,” Trump wrote on a Truth Social post.

The move assures an imminent release for Ulbricht, who in 2015 was convicted of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and distributing narcotics, along with a host of related crimes, via his operation of the darknet Silk Road marketplace. He was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Ulbricht’s case has become a cause célèbre for many in the crypto community who note he did not himself sell drugs or other illegal items, but instead operated a platform where others were allowed to transact.

Then candidate Trump promised a “Day One” commutation of Ulbricht’s sentence last May, while addressing the Libertarian Party convention

The price of bitcoin (BTC) rose in the minutes following the news, possibly as the pardon, along with a flurry of executive orders over the past hours, signals the president’s intention to follow through on campaign promises.

Another one of those promises was a far friendlier crypto regulatory stance, including the possibility of the creation of a strategic bitcoin reserve.

Eli Lilly & Co., the Fortune 500 pharma firm that manufactures weight-loss injection Zepbound (tirzepatide), has a comparable oral medication in the works that could be approved by the FDA as early as 2026, CEO Dave Ricks told Bloomberg TV on Jan. 13, 2025.

Gam1983/Getty Images

Microsoft and OpenAI announced Tuesday that they have adjusted their partnership so that OpenAI can access competitors’ compute.

The new agreement “includes changes to the exclusivity on new capacity, moving to a model where Microsoft has a right of first refusal (ROFR),” Microsoft says. “To further support OpenAI, Microsoft has approved OpenAI’s ability to build additional capacity, primarily for research and training of models.”

The foundation of their relationship (which runs through 2030) stays pretty much the same — Microsoft keeps its exclusive rights to OpenAI’s tech for products like Copilot, and OpenAI’s API remains exclusive to Azure. They’ll maintain their two-way revenue-sharing setup (it’s been reported that Microsoft gets 20 percent of OpenAI’s revenue). Prior to today’s change, OpenAI was locked into using Microsoft’s Azure cloud infrastructure exclusively for its computing needs.

The models OpenAI hopes to build and the user base it’s looking to serve require billions of dollars in compute. It has been previously reported that some OpenAI shareholders felt Microsoft wasn’t moving fast enough to supply OpenAI with computing power, hence why the startup partnered with Oracle back in June (with the blessing of Microsoft) for the necessary compute.

There’s been a lot of buzz about Microsoft and OpenAI facing relationship woes after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was briefly ousted from the company, causing a lot of very public drama. The New York Times reported that the relationship has grown increasingly strained due to financial pressures at OpenAI, concerns about stability, and growing friction between employees at both companies.

Last March, Microsoft hired Inflection CEO Mustafa Suleyman to lead its consumer AI efforts, along with most of Inflection’s staff, in a $650 million deal. According to The New York Times report, this move particularly angered some OpenAI leadership, including Altman.

OpenAI’s deal with Microsoft also has an unusual escape clause: if OpenAI creates artificial general intelligence (AGI), it could close off Microsoft’s access to some of its most powerful models developed after that point. AGI, reportedly, is defined as a system capable of generating more than $100 billion in profits. This was originally meant to keep such powerful AI from being commercialized, but now OpenAI is reportedly considering dropping this provision, likely to secure more Microsoft funding.

Jessie Tinsley, CEO of a workforce management company, Employer.com, is conducting what could become the year’s wildest acquisition spree.

First, Employer.com announced its plan last month to acquire Bench, the Canadian accounting startup that abruptly shut down over the holidays.

Now, Tinsley and Employer.com have joined hands with YouTuber MrBeast and others to save TikTok by submitting an all-cash bid for the app, according to a report in Bloomberg.

They haven’t disclosed the bid’s amount. The group’s legal counsel includes Brad Bondi, the brother of Trump’s attorney general pick, Pam Bondi.

TikTok briefly went dark on Saturday but reinstated itself shortly before President Trump signed an executive order on Monday delaying any potential ban for 75 days.

It’s not clear if TikTok’s owner ByteDance has seriously considered the offer, Bloomberg reported. Others floated as potential buyers include Elon Musk, Amazon, Oracle, and a syndicate headed by billionaire Frank McCourt.

Analyzing 5 cryptos for 2025, led by new contender Rexas Finance.

2025 is giving bullish sentiment with Donald Trump as the new U.S. president. Investors are looking to position themselves in order to capitalize on this bullish trend, and top analysts have identified some of the coins with the potential to drive riches. 

Rexas Finance, Nodle, Bifrost, Shiden Network, and KILT Protocol have stood out. Of the five, Rexas Finance is making waves with its transformative approach to real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and its selling out presale.

Rexas Finance

Rexas Finance has caught the eye of both investors and analysts due to its focus on RWA tokenization. This is a new way of tokenizing physical and digital assets, offering fractional ownership and greater liquidity. 

RXS is in Stage 11 of its presale, which is currently priced at $0.175, having already raised $36,381,133 out of its $41 million funding target. The presale has been on a lot of people’s radar, with 399 million tokens already bought out of a total of 425 million.

Rexas Finance is listed on CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko, further boosting confidence. The project also has a Certik audit, showing that it takes its security and transparency seriously. As the presale continues, RXS could soar to incredible price heights in 2025.

Nodle

Another cryptocurrency that is picking up speed is Nodle, which is worth about $0.00247. Nodle has gotten investors looking for potential growth, witnessing a price increase of almost 8% in the past 24 hours. 

Analysts believe that Nodle could offer an ROI of about 320%. Therefore, as a decentralized wireless network, it is well-placed to take advantage of the steadily increasing demand.

Bifrost

Built on Bifrost’s proprietary technology, which aims to bridge different blockchain ecosystems, the token is currently trading at $0.2162, with minor growth of 1.62% over the past week. 

It is anticipated that it will scale to the all-time high (ATH) of $0.81, around 300% growth. As more projects try to operate across blockchains, Bifrost could be at the center of making these connections possible.

Shiden Network

Shiden Network also hits the headlines, trading at around $0.1425, up 3.03% in the 24 hours. Analysts believe that Shiden will gain 350% and reach $0.47. 

Shiden Network is a multi-chain decentralized application platform that seeks to improve scalability and usability for developers and users.

KILT Protocol

KILT Protocol currently trades at $0.1417. The KILT token has also been the subject of bullish analysis, with a price target of $0.51 or about 400% ROI. 

With privacy and security of digital interactions remaining an issue, KILT’s decentralized identity solutions come at the right time.

Conclusion

2025 presents a unique opportunity, with analysts listing coins with the potential for significant gains. Among the five, Rexas Finance stands out as a beacon with a potential ROI of o 12,740%.

For more information on Rexas Finance, visit their website, X, or Telegram.

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