Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road darknet marketplace, announced on Thursday that he will make his first public appearance since being released from prison at an upcoming Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas.

“It’s official. I am excited to announce that I will be making my first public appearance and speech since my release from prison at The Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas,” Ulbricht posted on X.

Ulbricht’s announcement comes just months after US President Donald Trump granted Ulbricht a full and unconditional pardon through an executive order signed in January.

This move fulfilled a campaign promise Trump made during the Libertarian National Convention in 2024, where he pledged to commute Ulbricht’s sentence on his first day back in office.

Ulbricht’s Silk Road Dream Ended in a Historic Federal Sentence

Ulbricht had been serving two life sentences plus 40 years without the possibility of parole. He was convicted in 2015 on seven charges for operating Silk Road, a marketplace on the dark web that facilitated the sale of illegal drugs and services. The site processed over 1.5m transactions worth an estimated $213m, all conducted using Bitcoin.

A physics graduate and early advocate of Bitcoin, Ulbricht had envisioned Silk Road as a libertarian experiment in free trade. In his personal writings, he described a desire to create a platform where users could buy anything anonymously without government interference.

However, US prosecutors argued that the platform enabled widespread criminal activity and undermined public safety.

Ulbricht’s Post-Prison Role in Crypto World Gains New Visibility

Ulbricht was arrested in 2013 in a San Francisco library. He later admitted to creating Silk Road. His case quickly became one of the most high-profile prosecutions in cryptocurrency history. It drew both criticism and support from across the political spectrum.

Since his release, Ulbricht has remained engaged with the crypto community. In February, he publicly advocated for clemency for Roger Ver, a prominent Bitcoin investor facing serious tax-related charges.

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially dismissed its lawsuit against Nova Labs, the team behind the decentralized wireless network Helium, over allegations that it issued unregistered securities.

The news was announced by Helium in a blog post published on April 10.

Originally filed in January 2025, the lawsuit targeted Nova Labs for allegedly violating federal securities laws through the 2019 issuance of its native token, Helium (HNT).

Helium Case Marked One of SEC’s Final Moves Under Gensler Before Trump Era Shift

The case was among the SEC’s final enforcement actions under former Chair Gary Gensler, who resigned on January 20 following the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning the SEC cannot bring similar charges against Nova Labs in the future related to the same conduct.

“We can now definitively say that all compatible Helium Hotspots and the distribution of HNT, IOT, and MOBILE tokens through the Helium Network are not securities,” the company wrote.

The blog post added that the decision sets a precedent: distributing tokens to support network infrastructure doesn’t automatically classify them as securities under SEC rules.

The dismissal coincided with the formal appointment of Paul Atkins, a Trump nominee, as the new SEC Chair.

His leadership signals a shift in the agency’s stance toward crypto enforcement, which had been aggressive under Gensler’s tenure.

Helium, which allows users to build decentralized wireless networks using blockchain technology, claims to have around 375,000 active hotspots.

While HNT’s market capitalization currently stands at approximately $480 million, it once peaked above $5 billion in late 2021, according to CoinGecko.

Since President Trump took office, the SEC has backed away from several high-profile enforcement actions against crypto firms, including Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken, and Uniswap.

Trump has presented himself as pro-crypto, pledging to make the U.S. a global leader in digital assets and pushing for initiatives like the creation of a national Bitcoin reserve.

Trump-Era Shift Signals SEC Reassessment of Crypto Regulation

The SEC’s recent shift in tone under President Donald Trump reflects a broader effort to reevaluate the agency’s approach to digital assets.

SEC’s Mark Uyeda announced on April 5 that, in line with Trump’s deregulation agenda and guidance from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk, the SEC is reviewing seven staff-issued statements—five of which concern cryptocurrencies.

Among those under review is a 2019 framework from the SEC’s FinHub that assessed when digital asset sales could qualify as investment contracts under the Howey test.

Other documents being reconsidered include statements from the Divisions of Investment Management, Corporation Finance, and Examinations, particularly those addressing risks tied to Bitcoin futures, crypto custody, and industry-wide bankruptcies during 2022.

As reported, the SEC announced new guidelines on April 4, stating that certain fiat-backed stablecoins will be classified as “non-securities,” thereby exempting them from transaction reporting requirements.

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