President Donald Trump has pardoned Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao, who previously pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws while at the helm of the cryptocurrency exchange.
Trump “exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House’s press secretary, said in a statement Thursday. “In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden Administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims.”
At his sentencing hearing last year, Zhao, who had returned to the U.S. voluntarily from his home in the United Arab Emirates to plead guilty and face sentencing, said “the first step to taking responsibility is to fully recognize the mistakes.”
But a Binance spokesperson told Banking Dive via email that news of Zhao’s pardon was “incredible.”
“We thank President Trump for his leadership and for his commitment to make the US the crypto capital of the world,” a spokesperson said. “CZ’s vision not only made Binance the world’s largest crypto exchange but shaped the broader crypto movement.”
Trump has been vocal about his intentions to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world” since his time on the campaign trail last year. At the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, he pledged to hire regulators intent on helping the crypto sector “thrive, not dive.”
Though he was not always a believer in the currency – posting online in 2019 that he was “not a fan” of cryptocurrencies, which “are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air” – he has named several pro-crypto regulators and inked an executive order to promote the U.S.’s leadership in the digital assets.
Representatives from the Trump family held talks with Binance about taking a stake in the exchange’s U.S. arm, The Wall Street Journal reported in March. Zhao, however, disputed the report, which said he sought the deal in exchange for a pardon.
“Fact: I have had no discussions of a Binance US deal with … well, anyone,” Zhao wrote on X at the time, adding, “No felon would mind a pardon.”
Binance’s spokesperson added Thursday that the exchange “remains focused on building a secure, transparent, and user-first platform that reduces fees and increases access to the financial system for all.”
The Justice Department, which, during the Biden administration, sought to put Zhao in prison for three years, did not respond to a request for comment.
