Binance founder Changpeng Zhao receives a presidential pardon from Trump

Changpeng Zhao, a co-founder of Binance who entered a guilty plea to a money laundering charge in 2023, was pardoned by President Donald Trump, the White House announced Thursday. Trump,

"exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency," according to a statement from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Following Binance's months-long lobbying campaign for a pardon for Zhao, who goes by CZ, Leavitt's statement continued by arguing that the Biden administration's sentencing of Zhao was excessively harsh. The president and his top advisers share this opinion.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the pardon, which may allow Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, to resume operations in the US. Trump, however, has his own connections to Binance and has promised to turn the US into the "crypto capital of the planet." Binance hosts World Liberty Financial, its family's cryptocurrency company, which is becoming more and more important to their wealth.

In May 2024, Zhao pleaded guilty to charges of failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program and was sentenced to four months in prison. Zhao agreed to pay $200 million in fines and resigned as CEO of Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange he founded in 2017.

In 2023, the company reached a coordinated settlement with the federal government, agreeing to pay over $4 billion in fines and other penalties. Binance acknowledged violating sanctions, transferring money without a license, and participating in anti-money laundering activities.

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