US President Donald Trump on Thursday pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who had previously been found guilty of circumventing money-laundering laws, unlawful money transmitting and sanctions breaches.
Mr Zhao – a Chinese-born Canadian citizen and the 21st richest person in the world, according to Forbes – had served four months in prison before being pardoned.
"Deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice," Mr Zhao wrote on X. "Will do everything we can to help make America the capital of crypto and advance Web3 worldwide."
He launched Binance in 2017 and the company quickly became the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, with most of its customers coming from the US.
In November 2023, a federal court found Binance did not have an effective anti-money laundering programme, and permitted transactions between US users and users in jurisdictions subject to US sanctions. These illegal transactions were a “clear and foreseeable result of [Mr] Zhao’s decision to prioritise Binance’s profit and growth over compliance with the BSA”, court documents read.
Mr Zhao resigned as Binance's chief executive after pleading guilty to a federal money-laundering charge. Binance pleaded guilty to money laundering, unlicensed money transmitting and sanctions breaches.
Trump: Crypto sceptic to true believer
Mr Zhao's pardon is the latest move marking Mr Trump's crypto conversion from a sceptic during his first term to a staunch proponent in his second.
“President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden administration in their war on cryptocurrency,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Yet in an interview with Fox Business in 2021, it was Mr Trump who spoke about cryptocurrencies, specifically Bitcoin, and called it a “disaster waiting to happen”. He also claimed during the interview that cryptocurrencies ultimately hurt the US dollar.
During his pursuit of a White House return in 2024, however, Mr Trump changed his stance and courted donors with an affinity for non-fiat currencies.
In the 2024 Republican platform, taking cues from Mr Trump, the party mentioned crypto in its official issue plank document.
“Republicans will end Democrats’ unlawful and un-American crypto crackdown and oppose the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency,” the platform read. “We will defend the right to mine Bitcoin, and ensure every American has the right to self-custody of their digital assets.”
Shortly after winning the election, Mr Trump launched a meme coin, prompting critics to accuse him of using the presidency to fill his own pockets.
Mr Trump's wife, Melania, also launched a meme coin that has since become the subject of a lawsuit, with plaintiffs accusing it of being part of a pump-and-dump scheme.
Others working in the Trump administration have come under similar criticisms in the context of crypto endeavours.
During an appearance at a Bitcoin Mena conference in Abu Dhabi, Mr Trump's son Eric vowed his father would “fight like hell” to protect crypto from overregulation and predicted Bitcoin would hit $1 million in value.
In March, Mr Trump also held what he described as the first White House crypto summit, with Coinbase's Brian Armstrong, Robinhood's Vlad Tenev, Chainlink's Sergey Nazarov, Ripple's Brad Garlinghouse and Kraken's Arjun Sethi in attendance.
Despite existing for more than a decade, criticism and scepticism still abounds around crypto, which, unlike fiat currencies, lacks an overall regulatory apparatus and is mostly decentralised.
Critics have argued that cryptocurrencies have largely been a boon for money laundering and tax evasion. Crypto mining, the process by which digital assets are obtained and secured through a blockchain network, has also been blamed for creating a surge in the need for electricity.
Hacks and technical glitches have also resulted in the theft of billions in digital assets, running contrary to the notion that crypto assets are highly secure.
