Trump pardons Binance founder Changpeng Zhao

By Alayna Treene, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump has pardoned Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge in 2023, the White House said Thursday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Trump “exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency.”

Leavitt’s statement went on argue that the Biden administration’s sentencing of Zhao was too harsh — a view the president and his top advisers share after Binance’s months-long lobbying campaign for a pardon for Zhao, who goes by CZ.

The pardon, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, could open the door for Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, to operate in the US once again.

But Trump, who has pledged to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet,” has his own ties to Binance. His family’s crypto firm, World Liberty Financial — on which their wealth is increasingly dependent, is hosted on Binance.

Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison in May of 2024 after pleading guilty to charges that he failed to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program.

Zhao stepped down as CEO of Binance, the crypto exchange he founded in 2017, and agreed to pay $200 million in fines. The company agreed to pay more than $4 billion in fines and other penalties as part of a coordinated settlement with the federal government in 2023. Binance admitted to engaging in anti-money laundering activities, unlicensed money transmitting and sanctions violations.

Allison Morrow contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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