Ross Ulbricht-Linked Crypto Wallets Lose $12 Million on Raydium in Liquidity Mishap

Wallets associated with Ross Ulbricht, the recently pardoned founder of Silk Road, lost US$12M (AU$19M) while attempting to provide liquidity on Raydium, according to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence.

The token, ROSS, reportedly created by supporters to mark his release from prison on January 21, was created on Pump.fun, a Solana-based trading platform.

Ross Ulbricht, or someone with access to his wallets, just accidentally nuked the price of a Pump.fun coin sent to him while trying to provide liquidity on Raydium.

Arkham

When a MEV Bot Gets to Work

Arkham reported that an Ulbricht-linked Solana donation address had received 50% of the ROSS token supply from the developer last week. When the liquidity pool was set up incorrectly, a Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) bot took advantage and acquired US$1.5M (AU$2.42M) worth of ROSS before selling it into the existing pool. 

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The bot later repeated the same mistake on a larger scale, costing an additional $10.5M (AU$16.9M).

It remains unclear whether Ulbricht himself controls these wallets. If so, this could be quite awkward, as it means that Ulbricht, who once operated one of Bitcoin’s most well-known marketplaces, may now be unfamiliar with the current trading environment, which is not at all user-friendly. 

To be fair, he spent 11 years in prison. But that didn’t stop him from accessing social media, as he often tweeted via his official X account. At press time, Ulbricht had not made any comments regarding the incident.

Ulbricht remains a controversial figure. Some view him as a pioneer in cryptocurrency and online privacy. The long-running “Free Ross” campaign, which advocates for his release and rehabilitation, has focused on his case.