You better believe he will hire the best lawyers. My bet is his libertarian peers who are wealthy, will help out on his legal bills. I am not judging him, while saying that Democrats and Deep State have proven. That with proper judge shopping in the right judicial venue, anything can happen. To get luck and 6 billion dollars Bitcoin spilling his/Ross Ulbricht's way. The right judge might split it down the middle. Judges love to do this! And perhaps Ulbricht gets 3 billion dollars of his Bitcoins. That in my book belong to him anyways. No matter what manner of scum he is.
Trump is making crypto very legitimate these days. Which also will helps Ulbricht's case. To retrieve his very early investor Bitcoin wealth.
The ruling is the ruling, accepting a pardon is admitting guilt, admitting guilt justifies seizure of assets.