President Donald Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, following his conviction on money laundering and sanctions violations, according to reports published Thursday. The decision comes after Zhao played a prominent role in supporting the Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, following Trump’s return to office.
The White House confirmed the pardon, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt stating that Trump exercised his constitutional authority to grant clemency, describing Zhao as someone “prosecuted by the Biden administration in their war on cryptocurrency.” Trump reportedly signed the pardon on Wednesday.
Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison in April 2024 after pleading guilty to violating US anti-money laundering laws. His conviction was part of a sweeping $4.3 billion settlement with the Department of Justice, which also required him to step down as Binance’s chief executive.
Binance has since become closely intertwined with the Trump family’s crypto ambitions. In May, the exchange listed USD1, a stablecoin issued by Trump-backed World Liberty Financial. Shortly afterward, US regulators dropped a civil lawsuit against Binance. That same month, World Liberty Financial co-founder Zach Witkoff said Binance would receive a $2 billion investment denominated in USD1, following meetings between Zhao and the venture’s founders earlier in the year.
Zhao remains one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, with an estimated net worth of $85.6 billion. Despite resigning as CEO, he is believed to still control about 90% of Binance and holds a substantial amount of the platform’s native BNB tokens. Trump’s own net worth is estimated at $7.1 billion, and recent financial disclosures show he earned more than $57 million from World Liberty Financial in 2024.
Markets reacted positively to the pardon. Binance’s BNB token rose about 5% on Thursday, jumping sharply in the hour following the news. Over the past year, BNB has climbed more than 96%, making it the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, behind bitcoin, ether, and Tether.
Zhao founded Binance in 2017, growing it into the world’s largest crypto exchange with more than 300 million users. In 2023, Binance and Zhao admitted to multiple regulatory violations, including unlicensed money transmission, breaches of anti-money laundering rules, and sanctions violations. US authorities accused the company of failing to prevent illicit transactions linked to extremist groups. As part of the settlement, Binance agreed to pay billions in penalties, though it remains unclear whether all obligations have been fully settled.
Binance has also had a complex relationship with the media. In early 2022, it announced plans to invest $200 million in Forbes as part of a proposed SPAC transaction, though the deal was never completed. The announcement came shortly after Zhao and Binance dropped a defamation lawsuit against the publication.
