Democrats and one Republican argue that a pardon is inappropriate given the business ties between Binance and the Trump family’s crypto interests.
Trump pardons Binance founder convicted of financial crimes
President Donald Trump pardoned convicted Binance founder Chao Changpeng, a move criticized by anti-corruption advocates.
WASHINGTON – Five days after President Donald Trump pardoned the founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, the company helped expand Trump’s wealth by promoting a digital coin known as USD1, a cryptocurrency product owned by the Trump family.
“$USD1 deposits have started on @BinanceUS!” the company’s U.S. subsidiary said in an Oct. 28 post about X, referring to Trump-linked cryptocurrency World Liberty Financial.
Binance also advertised that it would accept Trump’s separate World Liberty Financial token on its US-based site. Both USD1 and $WLFI were already available on Binance’s international platform, but not in the United States. Making both tokens more easily available to US investors could expand the pool of potential buyers and increase their value.
Trump and his three sons launched World Liberty Financial in September 2024, along with Trump’s foreign envoy Steve Witkoff and sons Zack and Alex, and the company’s profile and profits soared in November 2024 when Trump was elected and began deregulating the cryptocurrency industry.
A stablecoin like USD1 is a cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to another asset, in this case the US dollar. Trump’s $WLFI token has no inherent value of its own, its value is based on the amount of money his supporters and investors spend on it. Binance’s Oct. 28 announcement stated that trading would begin on Oct. 29 and that USD1 would be officially approved as a “stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, fully backed by regulatory reserves, including U.S. Treasury securities.”
Binance founder and Chinese-born Canadian tech tycoon Qiao Changpeng “CZ” Zhao pleaded guilty to money laundering in 2023, served four months in federal prison, and was pardoned by President Trump on October 23.
Binance doesn’t just host and promote World Liberty Financial: The Wall Street Journal recently reported that when Zhao was seeking pardon earlier this year, Binance asked Abu Dhabi government-backed investment fund MGX to use President Trump’s $1 coin when investing $2 billion in Binance.
By leading the $2 billion deal through World Liberty, a start-up run by members of the Trump family with no experience in cryptocurrencies, the deal effectively increased the family’s demand for cryptocurrencies and generated new revenue from interest on the growing reserves backing it up.
“Opportunity for corruption is not hypothetical, and Mr. Trump is already setting an astonishing example,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a speech on the Senate floor on May 5. He said MGX’s use of President Trump’s $1 stablecoin to finance its $2 billion investment in Binance “essentially gives President Trump a piece of the deal.”
“Persecution by the Biden administration”
Binance has agreed to pay more than $4 billion in 2023 to resolve a years-long investigation by the Department of Justice and U.S. financial regulators. And they agreed to close gaps in financial protocols that prosecutors said allowed criminal and terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Al Qaeda, and the Islamic State to move illicit funds on Binance’s cryptocurrency platform.
“Binance became the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in part because of its own crimes, and now the company is paying the largest corporate fine in U.S. history,” said then-Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Trump family makes $5 billion from cryptocurrency World Liberty Venture
Trump and his family made about $5 billion from World Liberty Financial’s $WLFI token, raising ethical concerns.
The White House and Trump himself have ignored questions about the ethics of Zhao’s pardon, which allows the crypto mogul to return to the business he helped found in 2017. They argue that Trump is simply adhering to his campaign promise to ease tough Biden-era regulations that were opposed by cryptocurrency industry executives..
At a White House event on October 23, President Trump told reporters that he pardoned Zhao “at the request of a lot of good people,” saying that he was “persecuted by the Biden administration” and that “what he did was not even a crime.”
“The Biden administration’s crypto war is over,” White House press secretary Caroline Levitt added in a statement.
Binance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Zhao’s pardon and promotion of Trumpcoin days later.
However, X’s post, responding to criticism of the series of events by Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, said: “Dear Senator, we conduct comprehensive due diligence and legal reviews before listing any asset on @BinanceUS, whether it’s a stablecoin, a new ecosystem project, or a meme token.”
According to Binance, both Trumpcoin, USD1 and $WLFI, are already listed on over 20 other major crypto exchanges and are used to buy, sell, store and use cryptocurrencies. “To be clear, this is a business decision on the part of @BinanceUS and nothing more,” the company said. “It is unfortunate that even routine business decisions are now being unfairly politicized by elected officials.”
The White House also denied any quid pro quo.
In an Oct. 30 statement to USA TODAY, Levitt said, “The media’s continued attempts to fabricate a conflict of interest are irresponsible and increase public distrust in what they report. Neither the president nor his family has ever been involved in a conflict of interest and will never be.”
President Trump was initially ‘not a fan’ of cryptocurrencies
At a White House event on October 23, when a reporter asked Trump for answers about why he pardoned Zhao and whether it had anything to do with his family’s crypto investments, Trump retorted: “You don’t know much about crypto. You don’t know anything.”
President Trump has become a cryptocurrency enthusiast since July 2019, when he said he was “not a fan of Bitcoin” and that cryptocurrencies are used to facilitate crime and “are not money.”
Since then, he and his family have made up to $5 billion in paper profits from their holdings in various cryptocurrencies, including a reported $864 million in real cash profits in the first six months of this year alone.
They started their own company and coin. And they have forged relationships with domestic and international industry leaders, garnered investments and donations, and granted access to President Trump. On May 22, Trump dined with 220 investors who had poured a total of $148 million into cryptocurrency ventures, prompting intense criticism about the ethical implications.
By the same month, World Liberty had already raised more than $500 million in another digital token sale.
President Trump signs the Genius Act, the first major cryptocurrency law in the US
President Donald Trump signed the Genius Act, creating the United States’ first virtual currency law regulating stablecoins.
The highest bidder for seats at that dinner and another VIP meetup was Justin Sun, a Hong Kong crypto entrepreneur who poured $75 million into World Liberty Financial shortly after its launch. Sun, who had reportedly avoided setting foot on American soil for fear of arrest, faced civil fraud charges under the Biden administration. However, Trump’s Securities and Exchange Commission put the case against him on hold in February.
Another so-called “cryptocurrency buddy” pardoned by President Trump is Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for founding and operating what the U.S. government called “the most sophisticated and large-scale criminal marketplace on the internet.” The transactions used Bitcoin, which helps protect the user’s identity.
“Full-time, 24/7 corruption machine”
Democrats, as well as one Republican, have criticized Zhao’s pardon as particularly inappropriate given Binance’s business ties to the Trump family’s crypto interests.
Former North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said he “doesn’t like” the pardon and said it sends a “bad signal.”
“He’s been found guilty. He’s not innocent,” Tillis told reporters on Oct. 23.
Democrats have suggested the pardons could undermine difficult efforts on Capitol Hill to overhaul cryptocurrency regulations, which require bipartisan support.
Democratic Sen. Murphy posted on X that Binance has started promoting President Trump’s $1 cryptocurrency “It’s been a week since President Trump pardoned the owner of Binance (for a shocking series of crimes related to financing terrorists and sex offenders). ”
“The White House is a 24/7, full-time corrupt institution,” Murphy added.
America’s largest cryptocurrency company also pays large amounts of money to Trump
Binance is not the only cryptocurrency company to funnel money to President Trump in hopes of receiving preferential treatment.
Earlier this year, President Trump’s SEC dropped its lawsuit against Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange that buys, sells, stores, and uses cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Trump’s $1 USD stablecoin. It happened shortly after the company donated $1 million to President Trump’s inauguration.
Coinbase has also reportedly confirmed that it is one of the many crypto companies funding President Trump’s new $300 million ballroom, which he demolished and built in the East Wing of the White House.
Coinbase is facing another SEC investigation that began under former President Joe Biden and is currently seeking SEC approval to offer blockchain-based stock.
President Trump’s virtual currency venture is a huge success
Since Trump’s election last November, his sons Don Jr. and Eric have embarked on a globe-trotting investment roadshow to drum up more cryptocurrency investment deals, which critics say poses a conflict of interest and a national security threat to the president.
“The Trump brothers’ efforts have been an astonishing success,” Reuters said in its Oct. 28 special report, “Inside the Trump Family’s Global Cryptocurrency Automated Teller Machine.”
The Trump Organization’s revenue for the first half of 2025 jumped 17 times to $864 million from $51 million a year earlier, according to the organization’s calculations. Reuters’ calculations are based on the president’s public disclosures, property records, financial records released in court, and information on cryptocurrency transactions.
“Thanks to the brothers’ foresight, they are not funneling money into the coffers of the Trump family’s businesses,” Kathleen Clark, a law professor at the University of Washington, told Reuters. “Because they want the freedom from legal restraint and impunity that only a president can provide.”
