Ross Ulbricht’s Writings from Prison

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Essay: The Watch

– July 2024
At the edge of my awareness, I thought I heard my name. I was hunched over the metal desk sandwiched between the bright orange lockers in my prison cell. My pencil stopped its scratching as I strained my ears. A knock on my cell door and…

Essay: Block By Block | Facing Life In Prison, Bitcoin’s Resilience Inspires Me

– October 2022
On October 1, 2022, I started my tenth year locked in this cage. Right now, as I put pen to page, the afternoon sun beams through the bars of my window and the murmur of the other prisoners snakes under my cell door. Over the years, I have heard people say…

Announcement: My Art at Bitcoin 2022

– March 2022 (NFT Growth Collection)
It has been a few months since we auctioned off my art at Art Basel. The sale has definitely changed things. Options that were beyond our reach before are now possible. We can look more broadly at making the whole system just, rather than focusing just on me…

Announcement: My NFT

– November 2021 (NFT Genesis Collection)
It is finally starting to sink in that I might be here in federal prison for a while. I just started my 9th year of life without parole. Decades of incarceration stretch out in front of me. As I face that future—my eventual old age and death in this cage—I find myself looking for…

Essay: Death

– August 2021
My future died that day in court when I was sentenced to life without parole. When I got back to the federal detention center, I did not go straight to my cell block as usual. This time, I was interviewed first to judge whether I was suicidal. I wasn’t, and thankfully…

Essay: Space

– August 2021
I awoke in the fetal position with the sheet wrapped tight around me. My hip bone was sore where it pressed through the thin mattress to the metal bunk, but it wasn’t that—nor the ever-present fluorescent light—that woke me. The top of the mattress where my head…

Drawing + Poem: Uncageable

– June 2020
From the light of freedom to a concrete tomb, The fall was great and swift. My soul cried out in a mighty boom, How could it come to this? Clamped down, trapped stuck, Paralyzed in a tiny cage. Had fate left me not a drop of luck? Was there reason for this rage?…

Essay: ZKANN | A Possible Solution to the Content Problem

– May 2020
I read this article recently, and I have an idea for how to solve the problem it presents. The article is about how WhatsApp and other platforms with end-to-end encryption are being used to spread harmful content…However, through a combination of cryptography…

Essay: The Next Seven

– March 2020
Today is my birthday, my seventh in prison. More than any other day of the year, I feel the weight of the time I have lost, the years of my life I will never get back. Time is priceless, yet it must be spent. It cannot be saved for later. These seven years are gone…

Essay: Consciousness and Cosmology

– January 2020
During my years in prison, I have had many hours to read, think and meditate. Many ideas have germinated and grown in my mind during this time. I’d like to share one with you here that builds on my background in physics. It is based on two ideas…

Essay: Incentive-Based Criminal Justice Reform

– October 2019
A good criminal justice system (CJS) must accomplish four goals: protect the public from being victimized by criminals, pay victims appropriate restitution, rehabilitate criminals, cost the public as little as possible. The following is a blueprint of a CJS…

Seventh Year in Prison

– October 2019
October 1st 2019 marks the beginning of my 7th year in prison. Though I can still imagine, I believe I have forgotten what freedom actually feels like. Living in my own space, choosing who to be with, where to go, and living into a future of possibilities…

Essay: Bitcoin Equals Freedom

– September 2019
Something special happened in the first year or so after Satoshi gave us Bitcoin, something no one expected and many thought was impossible. Try to imagine Bitcoin back then, before you could buy things with it, before there was an exchange rate…

200,000 Signatures

– August 2019
200,000 people have signed my petition!!! This is a HUGE number! We are the size of a small city. That’s a city I would love to live in 😀 Thank you for helping me get this far. We are bound to get the President’s attention soon.

Essay + Drawing: Life in a Box

– August 2019
I let my hair and beard grow for one year after I was given two life sentences plus forty years without parole. Then I drew this picture of me in my cell with Scott, my cellie…Try, if you can, to imagine being in this 65-square-foot cell, just you, your cellie…

Essay: Who Deserves This?

– June 2019
I was put in handcuffs for the first time when I was 29 years old. I was labeled a prisoner that day and have since spent 2,096 days and nights in the captivity of the U.S. federal government. I’m still in prison, condemned to die here with a life sentence…

Letter to Supporters

– February 2019
Hi everyone, This note is hard to write. I want to be there with all of you so bad. I’ve been locked up the better part of a decade now. It’s hard. Every day wears on me a little more. I have to believe there is a happy ending to all of this, where I’m there in…

100,000 Signatures

– November 2018
Pinch me, I must be dreaming! 100,000 signers want to see me released from prison! This is incredible to see such a huge wave of support in these first few months since the petition launched. Our 500k goal feels totally doable now. I haven’t felt this hopeful…

Essay: 5 Keys to Inner Strength from 5 Years in Prison

– November 2018
October 1, 2018 marked five years since I was imprisoned. My physical surroundings today are ironically similar to what they were after my arrest back in 2013. I’m in the SHU again (Special Housing Unit, aka “the hole”). It means permanent lockdown…

50,000 Signatures

– August 2018
Hi everyone, I’m blown away by the outpouring of love and support you’ve shown me the past few weeks. Fifty thousand have already signed the petition for my clemency. The encouraging comments, the tweets, the articles, your attention and stand for…

Letter to the Reason Conference

– March 2018
Hi everyone, Thank you for inviting my mom to speak at this event. We’ve both been so excited for it because, from the beginning and at every turn, Reason has covered my case fairly and in a way that gets across the bigger issues. Sometimes I…

Letter to the Bitcoin Superconference

– February 2018
Hi everyone, Thank you for hosting my mom and hearing all she has to say. My Supreme Court petition is on track, thanks to the support many of you have given me over the years. Truly, there is much love in this community. So, this is an exciting time for…

Letter to Liberty Forum

– January 2018
Hi everybody, I’m sitting here in my housing unit at USP Florence surrounded by steel and concrete and lost souls, waiting for the controlled move up to the law library. It’s been more than four years now since my arrest. Somehow, you still haven’t given up…

Letter to the Nexus Conference

– August 2017
Hi everyone, I’m here in the law library of the Federal Pen in Florence, Colorado, not too far from where you are now. I’m spending most of my time in here reading case law and fighting for my freedom with all I have, but I wanted to drop you a quick…

Letter to Porcfest

– June 2017
Hey Porcfest, I got some bad news recently. It looks like the Feds want to hold on to me a little longer, so I can’t be there with you this year again. Mostly I want you to know that, while the ruling was disappointing, it is not discouraging, I have not given up on…

Invitation to join him in meditation

– June 2017
On June 28th 2016, a book came to me in the mail called “The Mind Illuminated”. It is a thorough guide in establishing a meditation practice and training to become an adept. I started reading it that same day and began my practice. I haven’t missed a day…

Excerpts from letters to friends and family

– 2016 to 2017
So, I’ ve been practicing gratitude at every opportunity, especially in the morning to kick the day off right and as I fall asleep at night. There are so many things to be grateful for, from the basic necessities (food, water, etc.), to our bodies, minds, and health, to the…

Letter to the Ross-A-Thon

– December, 2016
Hi everyone, Ross here, writing from the federal prison in Manhattan. I wish I could be tuning in with you to hear what everyone has to say and get involved in the discussion, but I’ll have to settle for this letter. I should get a copy of the comments and…

Letter to the Crypto Show

– July 2015
To everyone at the Crypto Show: I write to express my gratitude for all you are doing on my behalf. My mom, Lyn, tells me you’ve gone above and beyond, contributing to the fundraising effort, and directing your creativity and energy toward my cause. Thank you…

Letter to Porcfest

– July 2015
Hi Porcfest, I’m writing you from my cell in New York City. Sorry I couldn’t make it this year. Unfortunately the worst case scenario has played out for me and I’ve been sentenced to spend the rest of my life in prison. I am an eternal optimist though and will…