One afternoon in May, Ross Ulbricht strode into a banquet hall at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, the venue for one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency conventions.

Dozens of crypto enthusiasts rose to applaud, cheering as he made his way to a table at the front. Dressed in a dark suit and red tie, Ulbricht sat next to several of his biggest supporters, who had paid $US5000 ($7590) apiece to dine with him at a luncheon advertised as a “personal” welcome back celebration.

“I have been in an alien world for a long time,” Ulbricht, 41, said as the applause died down. “Now this world is alien to me.”

The walk was far different from the one Ulbricht had taken four months earlier, when he was released from a high-security prison in Tucson, Arizona, wearing a gray sweatsuit. As the creat

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