Two days after being re-elected as U.S. President, Trump has followed through on one of his biggest promises to the Bitcoin community.
Beaver Bullets:
- Ross Ulbricht has been pardoned by President Trump. Ulbricht who served over 11 years for operating the Silk Road marketplace, is seen as a hero by the Bitcoin community.
- Trump’s company, World Liberty Financial, purchased $47 million in Bitcoin on his inauguration day.
- Momentum appears to be building for the US creating a Bitcoin reserve.
- Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy announced a massive purchase of 11,000 BTC.
Ross Ulbricht is Free
We’ve just begun a historic week that could very well be remembered as the turning point for Bitcoin in the west. The stars have aligned in our favour, with the most powerful man on the planet now on our side.
It’s not talk either – he’s taking immediate action. On Tuesday, he fulfilled an early promise to free a famous early Bitcoiner from an unjust, lifetime prison sentence: Ross Ulbricht.
“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbricht to let her know that in honour 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,” posted Donald Trump to Truth Social on Tuesday.
Ross Ulbricht, who has been serving a double life sentence plus 40 years for operating the infamous darknet marketplace Silk Road, was seen as a martyr by many in the Bitcoin community. Ulbricht was arrested on October 1, 2013, and remained imprisoned for roughly 11 years and 3 months.
“The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern-day weaponization of government against me,” Trump wrote, calling his lengthy sentence “ridiculous.”
This pardon not only marks the end of a long battle for Ulbricht’s freedom but also signals a monumental shift towards a more Bitcoin-friendly administration. Moreover, it signals that Trump may honestly follow through on his biggest, loftiest Bitcoin promise: establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
Cynthia Lummis, the senator behind the legislation to create the reserve, alluded to having discussions about it with Trump’s son over Twitter.
Trump’s World Liberty Financial Goes Big on Bitcoin
Trump’s World Liberty Financial purchased $47 million worth of BTC on the very first day of Trump’s presidency.
Though the purchase was included alongside several sh*tcoins, BTC was one of their larger allocations. On-chain data confirmed that the purchases had taken place.
“To commemorate the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 47th President, $WLFI is proud to announce the following strategic purchases today,” the project’s X account tweeted.
The language and timing of the purchase has Bitcoiners believing that this may be a prelude to something much larger. After all, why would the organization purchase so much Bitcoin if they didn’t think something was gearing up to send it higher?
Saylor Gobbles Another 11,000 BTC
Michael Saylor announced another massive bitcoin purchase at MicroStrategy this week for 11,000 BTC worth roughly $1.1 billion USD.
“As of 1/20/2025, we hodl 461,000 $BTC acquired for ~$29.3 billion at ~$63,610 per bitcoin,” he said in the update.
This purchase is far larger than others in recent weeks, which significantly shrunk to roughly 2000 BTC per week following monstrous clips of over 20,000 BTC at a time in November.
In a recent interview, Saylor predicted that the endgame is for central banks to begin printing money to buy BTC – a strategy he compared to his own actions with MicroStrategy (MSTR) stock.
“The first country to print money to buy bitcoin wins,” he said. “What happened? We went from a billion to a $100 billion market capitalization.”
Stay humble,
Andrew
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