Donald Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the convicted Binance crypto exchange founder, following months of talks between the Trump family and the businessman.
The move immediately raised concerns among allies and critics of the President, who reacted with concern over how his family’s foray into the blockchain has pushed him closer to the convicted crypto king.
The Abu Dhabi-based Zhao, 48, commonly referred to by his initials ‘CZ’, was sentenced to four months in prison for violating anti-money-laundering requirements in the Bank Secrecy Act in 2024.
He has promised to ‘help make America the Capital of Crypto.’
Since his release, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, has worked to earn the founder a pardon, which could pave the way for the company to once again operate in the US after it was barred doing so in 2023, reported the Wall Street Journal, which first broke the news of the pardon.
‘This was an overly prosecuted case by the Biden administration,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday. ‘Even the judge indicated that the Biden administration was pursuing an egregious over-sentencing of this individual, and the previous administration was very hostile.’
The pardon immediately ruffled feathers among Trump’s allies and critics.
‘I love President Trump; this is possibly the greatest admin of my lifetime – except for these pardons,’ billionaire tech entrepreneur and Trump donor Joe Lonsdale reacted on X. ‘If I’m calling balls and strikes, these are hit-by-pitches!’
Former Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, a crypto billionaire, was sentenced to four months in jail for anti-money-laundering violations last year. Trump, who’s sons deal in the crypto space, pardoned CZ on Thursday
Trump’s team said CZ had been pardoned because the Biden administration ‘was very hostile’ to the crypto founder
‘POTUS has been terribly advised on this; it makes it look like massive fraud is happening around him in this area,’ Lonsdale continued.
Journalist Isaac Saul added: ‘Changpeng Zhao is comically corrupt. And he just successfully won a pardon from Trump by boosting the Trump family crypto coin.
‘I mean, this is a months-long scandal in any other normal administration.’
Since Trump was elected, Binance has played a large role in supporting Trump’s family crypto venture World Liberty Financial (WLF), the vehicle responsible for most of the President’s new wealth generation.
WLF, which is led by Trump’s sons and Zach Witkoff, son of Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, recently announced a $2 billion investment fund in the United Arab Emirates, where CZ lives, for the nation to purchase a stake in Binance using USD1, a crypto coin operated by WLF.
WLF is expected to profit off of the deal as the company makes money when its coins, like USD1, are used for transactions. Binance has also encouraged its users to trade USD1 on its platform.
The Trump-backed crypto firm has boasted about its connections to CZ, who is by all measures the most successful crypto entrepreneur in history through his creation of Binance and investments in other industry projects.
Trump has granted over 1,500 pardons and commutations since taking office in January.
CZ is now promising to ‘help make America the Capital of Crypto’
On Inauguration Day, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 individuals for offenses related to the January 6 Capitol riot.
He has also given pardons this year to former Republican lawmakers George Santos, Michael Grimm and John Rowland.
Reports indicate that Fred Daibes, a New Jersey businessman convicted of bribing ex-Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat for New Jersey, with $1 million worth of gold bars, is also seeking help from Trump to avoid his seven-year prison sentence.
