US President Donald Trump has granted a presidential pardon to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who was convicted of enabling large-scale money laundering through the cryptocurrency exchange, the White House confirmed Thursday.

Zhao, widely known as "CZ," pleaded guilty in November 2023 to violating the US Bank Secrecy Act after admitting that Binance had neglected to implement basic anti-money-laundering controls. Prosecutors alleged that the exchange ignored over 100,000 suspicious transactions linked to terrorism financing and child exploitation. As part of a plea deal, Binance paid $4.3 billion in penalties, while Zhao stepped down as CEO, paid a $50 million fine, and served a four-month prison sentence.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president "exercised his constitutional authority" in issuing the pardon, arguing that Zhao had been "egregiously oversentenced" by the previous Biden administration, which she claimed had waged "a war on cryptocurrency."

Crypto power nexus

Since his release from prison, Zhao has built a new investment empire through YZi Labs, a $10 billion firm spun out of Binance earlier this year. The company manages Zhao's fortune and that of early Binance executives, investing heavily in cryptocurrency start-ups as well as artificial intelligence and biotechnology. In September, The Financial Times reported that YZi Labs may eventually open to external investors, though its leadership said they are still "forming [their] team" in AI and biotech. Zhao remains Binance's largest shareholder and continues to promote its native BNB token, despite being barred from the exchange's management.

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The pardon follows months of lobbying by Binance and coincides with Trump's increasingly close relationship with the crypto industry. Once skeptical of digital assets, the president has since pledged to make the United States "the crypto capital of the world." Members of his family have entered the sector through a series of ventures and investments. Earlier this year, Binance supported the Trump-linked venture World Liberty Financial, a digital asset project founded by the president and his sons that reportedly raised around $550 million through token sales, by accepting its USD1 stablecoin.

Read more: Spector: Trump’s crypto empire, a 'money-printing machine'

Crypto corruption

Analysts say Zhao's pardon could pave the way for Binance to restart its US operations and for YZi Labs to expand under a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment. YZi's head, Ella Zhang, recently told the Financial Times that the Trump administration's approach had encouraged entrepreneurs who fled during the Biden era to return to Silicon Valley, describing regulators like SEC commissioner Paul Atkins as "very open-minded."

Still, the move has fueled allegations of corruption. Senator Elizabeth Warren, ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, condemned the pardon as "corruption" and urged Congress to investigate. Critics argue that the president's growing business involvement in cryptocurrency blurs the line between public office and private profit.

In August, The New York Times reported that Trump had used his position to promote personal digital-currency projects, including a Solana-based token called TRUMP launched earlier this year.

Trump, who last month filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit  against the paper, defended his decision, saying he acted "at the request of a lot of very good people." Zhao expressed gratitude on X, writing that he would "do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto."

Deeply grateful for today's pardon and to President Trump for upholding America's commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice.
🙏🙏🙏🙏

Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto and advance web3 worldwide.

(Still in flight, more posts to come.)…

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 23, 2025