United States President Donald Trump granted a pardon to Chinese billionaire Changpeng Zhao, founder of cryptocurrency brokerage Binance, this Thursday (23).
According to the White House, the billionaire was “persecuted” by Trump’s predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, in his “war against cryptocurrencies”.
“President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by granting a pardon to Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden administration in its war on cryptocurrencies,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Thursday. “The Biden administration’s war on cryptocurrencies is over,” he emphasized.
The founder of Binance, considered for many years the richest man in the crypto sector, pleaded guilty in 2023 to failing to comply with anti-money laundering rules and served four months in a federal prison, following an investigation opened by financial regulators and US prosecutors during the Democratic administration. This process took Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, out of the United States.
According to the Wall Street Journalearlier this year the company hired lobbyist Ches McDowell to help its founder secure a presidential pardon. The newspaper also reported that since Trump’s election, Binance has contributed to building the president’s family’s World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency venture.
Zhao currently lives in the United Arab Emirates. In addition to the billionaire, other executives in the crypto sector received clemency from the American president. In March, Trump pardoned Arthur Hayes, co-founder of the BitMEX exchange, who also pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws.
Ross Ulbricht, identified as the creator of the Silk Road drug market, powered by the digital currency Bitcoin, also received a pardon from the Republican. Since Trump’s return to the White House, United States financial regulators have closed several lawsuits initiated by the Biden administration regarding the crypto market.
