by Ross Ulbricht

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…

by Ross Ulbricht

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. …

by Ross Ulbricht

I’m turning 37, my 8th birthday in prison. I guess this means I’m in my late 30s now. Is there any significance to this? Our Earth is in roughly the same position it was when the little creature that would one day become me took his first…

by Ross Ulbricht

Centralization of social media networks has led to a host of problems for social media platforms and their users. These include privacy breaches and the impossible task of moderating the content of billions of users.

Below I describe a decentralized social protocol (DSP) that can help solve…

by Ross Ulbricht

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?

Told to lay down and die,

Something deep inside me stirred.

I can’t be caged I have to fly!

Not yet am I interred.

They can take my body, tie me down,

It matters not a bit.

My spirit still runs wild and free,

So in freedom here I sit.

by Ross Ulbricht

I recently wrote this article about the Maker Protocol. The protocol is an Ethereum application that supports DAI, and DAI is a token that tracks the value of the US dollar. One of the hardships of prison is access to information. It can take weeks or months…

by Ross Ulbricht

A follow-up to this article is here.

I read the Maker Protocol white paper recently. What a cool concept! The people behind Maker have created a cryptocurrency that tracks the value of the US dollar (a stable coin). You get all the benefits of a cryptocurrency without…