Trump Mulls Pardon for Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao

President Trump is reportedly considering pardoning Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, amid ongoing discussions with the White House. A presidential pardon could restore Zhao’s standing in the cryptocurrency ￰0￱ former Binance CEO has served time and paid $4.3 billion in fines after a 2023 money-laundering ￰1￱ Trump May Pardon Changpeng Zhao According to individuals close to Zhao, the former Binance chief could soon receive a pardon after months of internal discussions at the White ￰2￱ to Charles Gasparino, senior business correspondent at FOX Business, discussions between Zhao’s representatives and White House officials have intensified in recent ￰3￱ stated on X, “People close to CZ, the former Binance chief ...

say discussions inside the White House are heating up on the possibility of a pardon ￰4￱ Trump insiders believe the fraud case against CZ was pretty weak, and certainly not something that merited a felony conviction and jail time.” Zhao was one of the most influential figures in the crypto ￰5￱ was convicted of money laundering by the US Department of Justice, served time, and paid $4.3 billion in ￰6￱ remains the largest individual shareholder at Binance, and a presidential pardon could clear the way for a formal return to the exchange he founded in ￰7￱ Leaning Towards Pardon President Trump and several officials in the White House believe the case against Zhao under the previous administration’s crypto crackdown was weak and did not merit prison time or felony ￰8￱ stated that Trump is leaning towards a pardon, but the administration is worried about the optics of a pardon to Zhao, given the president’s involvement in the digital asset ￰9￱ Trump family is deeply involved with various crypto projects through their company, World Liberty ￰10￱ had revealed in May that he had applied for a pardon from President Trump following his release from prison.

However, according to reports, Zhao was denied a pardon at that time. Zhao’s Conviction Zhao’s conviction marked the end of one of the most high-profile cases during the Biden administration’s war on ￰11￱ alleged Binance allowed illicit transactions with sanctioned entities and failed to implement anti-money laundering ￰12￱ pleaded guilty to the charges and stepped down as the CEO of ￰13￱ also paid $50 million in fines, while Binance paid $4.3 ￰14￱ served a four-month prison sentence in a low-security federal prison in California and in a halfway ￰15￱ individuals have questioned whether the charges against Zhao were warranted. Meanwhile, Trump’s team sees Zhao’s situation as an opportunity to demonstrate a new era of crypto policy.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes ￰16￱ is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice