At the Libertarian National Convention in 2024, President Donald Trump committed to freeing Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht from prison. After serving 11 years in federal prison, Ross was finally pardoned in January of 2025, the day after President Trump was sworn into office.
For nearly three years I served as Chair of the Libertarian National Committee, and Ross' freedom was a key political issue for libertarian voters. President Trump’s pledge to free Ross Ulbricht moved the needle, drew libertarians into an unprecedented political coalition, and helped him win a hotly contested presidential race in 2024.
Here we are, two years later, and libertarians are more fickle than ever about their support of the President. While I still support President Trump, most libertarians are frustrated with the war in Iran, high fuel costs, and a federal government that has kept Bitcoin and crypto pioneers in prison. Libertarians are a key voting bloc that could help Republicans win in November, if the GOP is willing to earn their support.
With tight Senate races in New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Maine, and North Carolina, the libertarian voting bloc could be the difference between a Republican Senate majority in 2026 and a Democratic one.
As I've traveled speaking to libertarian groups across the country, one issue remains consistent: libertarian voters want President Trump and the Republican Party to finish what they started and end Joe Biden’s war on cryptocurrency.
Tech pioneers like Keonne Rodriguez, Roman Storm, Roman Sterlingov, and Ian Freeman were charged for building privacy and payment tools, not for committing fraud against a single victim. Former Fabric CFO, Nevin Shetty, was charged for making a standard company investment in a stablecoin. A failed investment that happens every day in corporate America.
This is not fair and just sentencing. It’s leftover political persecution from the prior administration.
Rodriguez is serving a five-year sentence for his role in the Samourai Wallet mixing service. Sterlingov is serving more than 12 years for operating Bitcoin Fog. Freeman is serving eight years for running an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange. Storm was convicted last year on a single money-transmitting count, and the DOJ is now pushing for an October 2026 retrial on the more serious charges a jury couldn't agree on the first time.
These are not cases where the defendants stole from people; they are cases where writing code, investing in common assets, and building financial infrastructure got treated like a crime.
While President Trump has been the most pro-crypto president in history on policy like the GENIUS Act, the CLARITY Act and his administration's broader embrace of the industry, there is still so much work left to actually unwind the prosecutions of the people who built the technology in the first place. Pardoning Ross Ulbricht proved the President understands the stakes. Now libertarian voters want to see that same understanding applied to the developers still sitting in federal prison or staring down a retrial.
If President Trump and the Republican Party are serious about winning in November, they need to win back the libertarian voting bloc, and that means finishing the job on crypto by freeing the libertarians that the Biden administration targeted.
With the world economies facing unprecedented uncertainty, rising debt, and growing concerns of economic inequality and instability, crypto protection has never been more vital. President Trump and the Republican Party have a sworn duty to protect American freedom, and with that means supporting financial freedom.
In battleground states like New Hampshire, where independent candidates have cost Republicans a key U.S. Senate seat as recently as 2016, each libertarian vote matters greatly. When former U.S. Senator (and current Governor) Kelly Ayotte lost to U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan, it was by just over 1,000 votes. An independent libertarian candidate, Aaron Day, garnered nearly 18,000 votes in that election, more than enough to have changed the outcome.
Day is running again in 2026, this time against Trump-endorsed John Sununu, and he has been explicit that only a real reversal of the war on crypto could keep him out of the race.
Republicans also face a broader challenge: connecting with younger voters. According to a recent study, 56% of Gen Z politically identify themselves as Independents. Why is this important to crypto? Nearly half of Gen Z are crypto investors, and do not put their trust into traditional financial institutions.
With our youngest adult generation voting for the first time every year, Libertarians very well could be the difference between a Republican or Democrat legislature in 2026. That being said, there’s still much to accomplish to earn their vote, but it starts with ending the archaic war on crypto.
In 2024 President Trump earned the libertarian vote by making a promise and keeping it. Republicans can do it again in 2026, but only if they remember that libertarian voters don't forget unfinished business.
Angela McArdle is the former chair of the Libertarian National Committee and current chair of the Libertarian Party Mises Caucus. A longtime political organizer and activist, she has emerged as a leading voice for civil liberties, government accountability and criminal justice reform.
