--- title: "Pardoned by Trump, Founder of Silk Road Now Appears to Be Squandering Donations on Stupid Meme Coins" description: "Pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht appears to be honoring a tradition in the world of crypto: losing money on doomed meme coins." date: "2025-02-01" modified: "2025-02-01" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/ross-ulbricht-silk-road-meme-coins" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Future Society" tags: - "bitcoin" - "cryptocurrencies" - "meme coins" - "silk road" --- # Pardoned by Trump, Founder of Silk Road Now Appears to Be Squandering Donations on Stupid Meme Coins ![Pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht appears to be honoring a tradition in the world of crypto: losing money on doomed meme coins.]() *\Image: US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York\* Despite calling for the death penalty for drug dealers, president Donald Trump [pardoned]() Ross "Dread Pirate Roberts" Ulbricht, the man behind the seminal online drug marketplace Silk Road, which facilitated the sale of over $200 million in illegal drugs and other illicit goods using bitcoin. Now [Ulbricht is a free man](), and as [*Protos* reports](), crypto wallets linked to him have received countless donations as he's become a martyr-like figure. But instead of returning the favor or making a quick buck by selling off a portion of his newfound riches, Ulbricht appears to be honoring a longtime tradition in the world of crypto: losing money on doomed meme coins. According to [blockchain analysis firm Arkham Intelligence](), the wallets linked to Ulbricht have already lost an estimated $12 million worth of donations on Pump Fun, the infamous meme coin platform that's often used by [celebrities]() for blatant [pump-and-dump schemes](). It remains unclear whether Ulbricht was behind the disastrous bets on the platform, or somebody else with access to his wallet keys. The blunder happened when the wallets attempted to sell accumulated $ROSS tokens, a meme coin created to celebrate his pardoning. Whoever's behind the wallet seems to have accidentally sold the tokens at a massive discount — and before they could correct their mistake, automated trading bots made the situation far worse, leading to millions of dollars in losses. The screwup serves as a great reminder of the substantial risks involved in trading volatile meme coins — lessons that seemingly even the mind behind Silk Road has yet to learn. Ulbricht's personal involvement in the affair remains unclear. The former crypto baron [tweeted on January 19]() — two days before $ROSS was minted — that he was "not involved or associated with any meme coin bearing my name. There is no official Ross coin." But an anonymous developer gave wallets linked to Ulbricht half of the supply of the meme coin when it was created, according to Arkham. "Ross tried to add single-sided liquidity to sell the coins off passively, but accidentally created a pool with Raydium CPMM (Constant-Product Market Maker) instead of CLMM (Concentrated Liquidity Market Maker)," the blockchain analysis firm [tweeted](). The faux pas sent the value of the coin plummeting by roughly 90 percent. According to Arkham, Ulbricht still holds [roughly $200,000 worth of the coin](), "despite losing 40 percent of the supply." The memecoin has since fluctuated wildly, and is up 103 percent over the last day, [according to DEX Screener](), further highlighting the extremely volatile nature of these crypto assets. Some members of the crypto community were sympathetic following Ulbricht's massive blunder. "Wow... welcome to the trenches," one X-formerly-Twitter user [tweeted]() in response. "Imagine having such a crappy UX that even Bitcoin OGs can't figure it out, let alone the normies," another user [wrote](). "Web3 will only become mainstream when we figure out how to improve the UX in a dramatic way." **More on meme coins:** *[Trump's Meme Coin Is Down 64 Percent From Its High]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()