Trump pardons convicted Binance founder ‘CZ’ Zhao
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US President Donald Trump's pardon of Binance founder Zhao Changpeng (above) paves the way for the crypto mogul to return to the business he helped found in 2017.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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- Donald Trump pardoned Binance founder Zhao Changpeng, convicted of anti-money laundering failures, fulfilling a promise to support the crypto industry.
- Zhao expressed gratitude and aims to "help make America the Capital of Crypto," potentially allowing Binance to expand under Trump's administration.
- The pardon, criticised by Senator Warren due to potential conflicts of interest, follows other Trump pardons of crypto and white-collar crime figures.
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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump has pardoned Mr Zhao Changpeng, the convicted founder of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, the White House said on Oct 23, in the latest move by Mr Trump to boost the crypto industry and expunge its past misdeeds.
Mr Zhao, a billionaire known as “CZ” who is one of the most influential figures in crypto, quit in 2023 as Binance chief after the company pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering programme and paid a penalty of US$4.3 billion (S$5.6 billion).
Mr Zhao was prosecuted by the Biden administration “in their war on cryptocurrency”, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Since he returned to office, Mr Trump’s family has reaped millions of dollars from a variety of crypto ventures
The White House has denied those claims and on Oct 23, Ms Leavitt said it carefully examined all pardons.
In a post on social media platform X, Mr Zhao said he was “deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice”.
He added: “Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto.”
The US authorities said in 2023 that Binance had failed to report suspicious transactions with organisations including Hamas and Al-Qaeda and with websites dedicated to selling child sexual abuse materials.
Mr Zhao, a citizen of Canada who was born in China, personally paid a US$50 million fine and served nearly four months in prison
However, he kept his Binance stake, while one of his appointees was made chief executive.
“I made mistakes, and I must take responsibility,” Mr Zhao said, when he stepped down.
The full and unconditional pardon could pave the way for him to return to the business he co-founded in 2017. It may also offer the chance for Binance to expand in the US as the crypto industry booms under the Trump administration.
A spokesperson for Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volumes, thanked Mr Trump for his leadership.
News of the pardon, which Mr Zhao told a podcaster in May he had been seeking, was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The US Constitution gives the president broad power to issue pardons to wipe away federal criminal convictions, or commutations to modify sentences. Historically, presidents have largely waited until the end of their terms to use such powers, but there is no requirement that they do so.
During his second term, Mr Trump has made sweeping use of his clemency powers and Mr Zhao’s is the latest in a series of pardons that Mr Trump has granted to crypto executives and entrepreneurs, as well as others convicted of white-collar crimes.
The crypto sector poured money into Mr Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, during which the Republican candidate promised to end what he called a crackdown by the Biden administration on the industry.
Support for World Liberty Financial
Binance itself in 2025 offered support to one of the Trump family’s crypto ventures, World Liberty Financial. In May, Binance accepted World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin as payment for a US$2 billion investment in the exchange by Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX.
Binance’s decision to accept USD1, which was launched only in March, provided a big boost to the World Liberty venture, and still accounts for most of the USD1 in circulation.
Democratic US Senator Elizabeth Warren, who previously criticised the MGX deal, said on Oct 23: “First, Zhao Changpeng pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge. Then he boosted one of Donald Trump’s crypto ventures and lobbied for a pardon. Today, Donald Trump did his part and pardoned him.”
A spokesperson for Binance declined to comment on Ms Warren’s criticism.
In March, the President pardoned the three co-founders of crypto exchange BitMEX who had pleaded guilty in 2022 for failing to implement a Bank Secrecy Act-compliant anti-money laundering programme.
Mr Trump also pardoned in January Mr Ross Ulbricht,
Outside crypto, Mr Trump has pardoned the founder of electric truck company Nikola, who was convicted of fraud, and commuted the sentence of the executive behind the now-defunct start-up Ozy Media.
On his first day back in office, Mr Trump pardoned approximately 1,500 individuals charged in the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. REUTERS
