Ross Ulbricht Wallets Lose Millions After Fatal Liquidity Mistake

A costly trading error has reportedly drained $12 million from crypto wallets linked to Ross Ulbricht, the recently pardoned founder of Silk Road.

The incident, detailed by blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, occurred when an attempt to provide liquidity for the memecoin ROSS backfired, allowing an automated trading bot to exploit the mistake.

Following Ulbricht’s release, supporters launched the ROSS token, intended as a tribute. However, when liquidity was added to the decentralized exchange Raydium, the transaction was misconfigured. As a result, a bot detected the mispricing, swiftly acquiring $1.5 million worth of tokens—around 5% of the total supply—and reselling them for profit.

Instead of recovering from the setback, another attempt was made, but the same error occurred on a larger scale. This time, the bot captured an additional $10.5 million worth of tokens, equivalent to 35% of the supply. The sudden influx of available tokens caused ROSS’s price to collapse by 90%.

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Despite the heavy losses, Ulbricht-associated wallets still hold a portion of the remaining tokens, with around $200,000 in value. The affected wallets are listed for donations on FreeRoss.org, a campaign dedicated to his cause.

Ulbricht, once the mastermind behind Silk Road, operated the Bitcoin-fueled dark web marketplace until his arrest in 2013. He was sentenced to multiple life terms in 2015, but on January 22, former U.S. President Donald Trump granted him clemency, fulfilling a long-standing campaign pledge tied to the crypto community.

Alexander Zdravkov

Alexander has been working in the crypto industry for three years, during which time he has established himself through his active participation in monitoring market dynamics and technological innovations. His interest in cryptocurrencies and new technologies is not just a professional commitment, but a deep personal passion. He follows the news in the sector daily, analyzes trends, and is excited about every new step in the development of blockchain solutions. His enthusiasm drives him to continuously learn and share knowledge, as he sees the future in digital finance and its role in global transformation.