US President Donald Trump pardons Binance founder Changpeng Zhao

US President Donald Trump has today pardoned Changpeng Zhao, Founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

In 2023, Changpeng Zhao – known as CZ – pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act due to anti-money-laundering failures at the exchange. Zhao had served four months in prison, and Binance have paid over $4 billion in fines.

The White House described the pardon as a correction to prior administration overreach.

In a press conference, President Trump said that CZ was pardoned because he “wasn’t guilty of anything” and what he did wasn’t even a crime.