Las Vegas, Nevada -Silk Road -Founder Ross Ulbricht has a message to the Crypto Society: If you want to preserve your freedom, you must remain united and decentralized and you must be prepared for a match.
In a heart-field main speech that closes Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas on Thursday, Ulbricht, who approached the public personally for the first time since being released from prison in January, shared a story to illustrate his three guiding principles freedom, decentralization and unity.
Ulbricht explained that in the early days of Silke Road he would grow hallucinogenic mushrooms to store the dark network market, so he rented a remote cabin. The cabin, he said, was infected with wasps. He went out to deal with the wasps with the help of a trick his father had taught him who involved catching the nests of the wasps under a towel.
“My heart knocked,” Ulbricht said. “I chose the nest that was furthest from the others because I didn’t know if the other nests would come and hover me, spread the towel, came as close as I could – ready to flee if I had to – but when I wrapped the nest, nothing happened. It was like the other wasps not even noticing it.”
Ulbricht said the wasps were strong because they were free: “It was impossible to keep track of so many individual wasps, a brodd could come from any direction. They were strong because they were decentralized, across seven nests.”
But, said Ulbricht, the wasps were ultimately weak because they were not gathered and did not respond when their colleagues were taken down.
“Had a single WASP dared to come with me when I went after the first nest, I would have fled … but they didn’t. Thank goodness, you’re not wasp,” Ulbricht said.
Before he was pardoned by US President Donald Trump in January – the result of a promise that Trump made on the campaign track in 2024 – spent Ulbricht 12 years behind pillars. His speech on Thursday marked the 10th anniversary of the day of a New York judge who sentenced the then 31-year-old Ulbricht to two life judges plus 40 years to own and operate the dark Net marketplace.
During his main speech speech, Ulbricht, who has been free for four months, seemed to be lively with his newly won freedom. In a video montage ahead of his performance on stage, clips played by Ulbricht, who is experiencing life outside the prison – traveling, surfing, spent time with his wife – on screen, each showing a brilliant Ulbricht.
“Winning your freedom feels as amazing as losing it feels terrible,” Ulbricht said, crediting the crypto community to go in for his release. “I’m free, and that’s because of you. You made this moment possible … Thanks please, please.”
After more than a decade behind columns, Ulbricht compared himself to tearing Van Winkle and admitting that he was overwhelmed by all the technological advances since he went to jail.
“There are dozens of new cryptocurrencies and blockchains, every fascinating in themselves, and thousands more I will never have time to learn about. There is defi and web3 and AI to help me navigate it all. It’s nuts,” Ulbricht said. “I mean, just a few months ago, when I went out of prison, I had never seen a drone … It all hits me right away, freedom, the new technology, the fact that I have a future again.”
Ulbricht closed by telling the audience about gangs and factions in prison and said he quickly came to understand that the prison guards as inmates were shared.
“The only times I saw that the guards should show respect for the prisoners were when we were united,” Ulbricht said. “Those who are against decentralization and freedom love it when we are divided, I promise you, so stay united. As long as we can agree that we deserve freedom and that decentralization is how we secure it, then we can be united … Stay true to these principles and the future are ours.”
