U.S. President Donald Trump has granted a pardon to Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Zhao had previously served time in prison for his failure to prevent criminals from using Binance to transfer funds related to illegal activities like child sex abuse, drug trafficking, and terrorism.
Zhao had appealed to Trump for a pardon in the past and has close connections to World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency initiative launched by the Republican president and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. Trump’s latest financial disclosure report indicates earnings exceeding $57 million US in the last year from World Liberty Financial, which introduced USD1, a stablecoin pegged at a 1-to-1 ratio with the U.S. dollar.
Moreover, World Liberty Financial recently announced that a UAE-based investment fund plans to utilize $2 billion US worth of USD1 to acquire a stake in Binance. Zhao publicly expressed his plea for a pardon from Trump to overturn his conviction.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt released a statement on Thursday alleging that the Biden administration targeted Zhao to penalize the cryptocurrency sector. She clarified that there were no accusations of fraud or identifiable victims, even though Zhao had admitted guilt in November to failing to maintain an anti-money-laundering program.
In his court statement last year, Zhao admitted his failure, expressing deep regret and apologizing for his actions.
