Ulbricht, 40, was about 10 years into his life sentence for helming an online black market where drug dealers, money launderers, and traffickers used bitcoins to mask more than $214 million in illicit trades. (Ars thoroughly documented the Silk Road saga here .)

Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht is free after President Donald Trump pardoned him. But who is he and what did he do?

During his campaign, Trump promised to reduce Ulbricht's sentence "on day one" if re-elected, and garnered enormous support from Ulbricht's family and supporters.