U.S. President Donald Trump has officially pardoned Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the co-founder of global cryptocurrency exchange Binance, who pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in 2023.
According to two sources familiar with the matter, the decision was finalized this week, marking a major victory for Zhao and the crypto industry.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the move in a statement, saying President Trump “exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency.”
She added that the administration believed Zhao’s sentence was “excessively harsh,” echoing concerns raised by Trump’s advisers following Binance’s extensive lobbying efforts for clemency.
The pardon, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, could pave the way for Binance — the world’s largest crypto exchange — to resume full operations in the United States.
Zhao had been sentenced to four months in prison in May 2024 after pleading guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. He resigned as Binance’s CEO in 2023 as part of a settlement deal and paid $200 million in fines.
Binance itself agreed to pay over $4 billion in penalties after admitting to anti-money laundering lapses, unlicensed money transmitting, and sanctions violations.
Zhao, who founded Binance in 2017, remains one of the most influential figures in the crypto world — and his pardon signals what many observers see as a major political shift toward the digital asset industry under Trump’s renewed leadership.
