Overview
- The White House confirmed the pardon and framed Zhao’s prosecution as part of the prior administration’s “war against cryptocurrencies,” asserting there were no fraud charges or identified victims.
- Zhao had pleaded guilty in 2023 to failing to maintain an effective anti‑money‑laundering program, resigned as CEO, paid personal fines, and served a four‑month prison sentence as Binance paid roughly $4.3 billion in penalties.
- News outlets report the clemency could remove legal and reputational barriers for Binance to seek renewed U.S. operations as the Trump administration rolls back earlier crypto enforcement efforts.
- Reporting highlights financial links between Binance and the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial, including Bloomberg’s account that Binance wrote code for WLFI’s USD1 stablecoin and plans announced to use USD1 in a proposed $2 billion investment in Binance by an Abu Dhabi fund.
- Binance publicly thanked Trump for the pardon, while critics such as Senator Elizabeth Warren condemned it as favoring the wealthy; crypto markets rose on the news, with BNB and Bitcoin posting gains in Thursday trading.