‘War on Crypto Is Over’: Donald Trump Pardons Binance Founder CZ
US President Donald Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, founder of the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance.
Zhao, widely known as CZ, pleaded guilty in November 2023 to violating anti-money laundering laws and U.S. sanctions. The plea was part of a sweeping settlement with the US Department of Justice, under which Binance was to pay a record fine of $4.3 billion.
Zhao ultimately spent four months in federal prison. The DOJ initially requested a three-year prison sentence.
After granting clemency, the White House named Zhao as the victim of a plot to trample the crypto industry led by former President Joe Biden’s administration. Regulators filed a series of lawsuits against high-profile companies around this time, and the DOJ prosecuted leading figures in the crypto industry for fraud.
“In its desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “The Biden administration’s war on crypto is over.”
Zhao, who founded Binance in 2017, is something of a legend in cryptocurrency land for his bullish statements and flair for social media. Until his guilty plea, he regularly used his platform on X to dismiss allegations of wrongdoing at Binance.
Zhao is the latest in a line of crypto figureheads pardoned by Trump. The president has received endorsements and millions of dollars in donations from industry members.
Immediately after returning to office, Trump commuted the prison sentence of Ross Ulbricht, creator of the darknet marketplace Silk Road. In late March, Trump pardoned the co-founders of crypto exchange BitMEX, who pleaded guilty in 2022 to charges related to their failure to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering program.
Although Zhao has already served his prison sentence, the pardon will expunge anti-money laundering and sanctions violations from his criminal record.
“For him, I think it’s really about clearing his name,” says Patrick Hillmann, who previously worked under Zhao as chief strategy officer at Binance. “I think this is the end for him.”
The pardon could also pave the way for Binance to return to the US market, which it was forced out of as a condition of the DOJ settlement. Binance spent months seeking clemency for Zhao, who was released from prison in September 2024, the Wall Street Journal previously reported.
