Ross Ulbricht, creator of the Silk Road and one of Bitcoin’s earliest public champions, wasted no time calling out Kamala Harris after labelling her new book as a “fentanyl dealer.”
Ulbricht set the record straight. He was never personally charged with handling drugs, and fentanyl was not part of his charges.
Harris’ book claims to cause pushbacks
Ulbricht’s posts don’t pull punches. His message is clear. Harris’s claims are virtually inaccurate, and the motivations behind it appear political, portraying both Ulbricht and President Trump from a negative perspective. Ulbricht wrote:
“The truth wasn’t important to you. The goal is for me and President Trump to look great at every cost. Don’t be a loser, Kamala.”
Democrats have long been accused of hostile attitudes towards the crypto industry, and have stepped up restrictions crackdowns through initiatives such as “Chake Point 2.0.”
Harris’s Ulbricht misunderstanding feels like another example of Democrats’ wider hostility towards the destructive potential of Crypto.
Ross Ulbriccht, the architect behind the Silk Road
For those who are not very familiar with Crypto Lore, Ross Ulbricht is the architect behind the Silk Road. The Silk Road is the infamous online marketplace that used Bitcoin for transactions when most people never even heard of cryptocurrency.
Released in 2011, Silk Road allowed users to buy and sell a variety of products (some legal, many people) that are outside the scope of traditional regulations.
Ulbricht was arrested in 2013 and ultimately received a life sentence without the possibility of parole. This was a punishment that many legal experts, technical leaders and privacy advocates were considered excessive. His case sparked a flashpoint for debate about internet freedom, criminal justice reform and government approaches to new technologies.
In January 2025, President Trump notified Ulbriccht’s ruling and allowed him to walk freely after the bar over a decade. The move was celebrated by the Bitcoin community and has long been widely welcomed as a long-standing justice. However, others, including Harris, criticized it as reckless and politically motivated.
The Silk Road and the impact on Bitcoin
Regardless of where you stand in Silk Road activities, the impact on Bitcoin’s development cannot be denied. Silk Road gives Bitcoin the first real-world use case, indicating that decentralized, unauthorized digital currency could actually work.
Although Ulbricht did not invent Bitcoin, his site helped it move from ambiguous experiments to technology with global name recognition. The legacy is complicated. Critics point out that the Silk Road made illegal activities possible, and disputes that supporters showed the power of blockchain thwarting.
Even today, Ulbricht’s stories are frequently cited whenever questions arise about crypto policy and online freedoms.
Ulbricht’s rebuttal to Harris doesn’t just set the record straight. It reminds me of how controversial his case is, not just in the technological circles, but also in the national political stage.
Harris’ decision to characterize Ulbricht as a “fentanyl dealer” speaks to the fierce narrative battle that follows presidential politics and famous pardons, despite the absence of such accusations.