Cryptocurrency firm Binance reportedly helped the Trump family’s crypto exchange company make billions prior to President Donald Trump’s pardon of its co-founder, Changpeng Zhao, who is also known as “CZ,” last week. Now, the revitalized company Binance is set to make its own fortune, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
Trump pardoned Zhao on Oct. 23. The administration claims Zhao was targeted “by the Biden administration in their war on cryptocurrency.”
Zhao pleaded guilty to failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering program. It came after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) found him in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. He agreed to step down as Binance’s head as part of a record $4.3 billion settlement with the DOJ in 2023 and was imprisoned for less than half a year.
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Zhao reportedly saw opportunity after Trump’s win
Zhao reportedly saw a pardon as a possibility after Trump, whose 2024 campaign took a strong stance in support of cryptocurrency, won the presidency.
According to The Journal, Binance assembled a “high-level task force” to negotiate with the cryptocurrency company World Liberty Financial, of which the Trump family holds a majority stake through a parent company, and initiated an effort to secure clemency from the president.
Trump’s cryptocurrency venture surges in value
World Liberty has seen its stablecoin shares go from $127 million to more than $2.1 billion this spring following assistance from Binance, as reported by The Journal.
Binance reportedly developed the technology that World Liberty used to launch its stablecoin, USD1. Just weeks after the product launched in March, an Emirati state-financed group known as MGX invested $2 billion in Zhao’s firm using the stablecoin. The deal with MGX could allow World Liberty to bring in tens of millions of dollars in interest, as reported by The Journal.
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Presidential pardons can only be granted for federal offenses, not state offenses.
World Liberty denied any suggestion that Binance was involved in its deal with MGX, and a lawyer for Binance told The Journal that Zhao was neither “the relationship facilitator or financier” between MGX and the Trump family-backed company.
Following Zhao’s clemency, Binance, the world’s top cryptocurrency company, is reportedly set to return to the American market after its 2023 ban.
World Liberty denies role in Zhao’s pardon
World Liberty told The Journal that a pardon was never mentioned, and the firm’s attorney stated that the company “never assisted in, facilitated, or influenced a decision on Mr. Zhao’s presidential pardon.”
A spokesperson for the firm, however, did express support for Zhao’s pardon, saying in a statement to The Journal, “Everyone who has been a victim of Joe Biden’s lawfare has rightfully been pardoned.”
An attorney for Binance denied any wrongdoing by the company and asserted that the firm had no control over the choice of currency used by MGX.
Trump cited his decision to grant Zhao a pardon upon “the request of a lot of very good” people, but some within the White House reportedly fear it could appear to be a conflict of interest in the eyes of the public.
“Neither the president nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Journal.
Democrats and some Trump allies criticize move
Three Democratic senators are pushing for a vote to condemn Trump’s pardoning of Zhao.
“Pardoning convicted crypto billionaires sends a message: if you have money and the right connections, you don’t have to follow the law,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in a speech on the Senate floor.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., also criticized Trump’s move in a statement on X.
“Trump is selling pardons to anyone who can personally profit him,” Nadler wrote. “It’s a shameful abuse of power and a mockery of justice.”
Even some of Trump’s allies have come out against the pardon of Zhao, including Laura Loomer, a close contact of the president, who accused the Binance founder of obtaining “Emirati citizenship” to “evade punishment for crimes.” She also said Zhao was a “Chinese national” in a post on X.
Zhao responded to Loomer’s X post by writing that he is no longer a citizen of China and accused her of projecting “stereotypes onto others.”
