US President Donald Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who created the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange and served a prison sentence after failing to stop criminals from using the platform to move money linked to child sexual abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism.
Zhao previously asked Trump for a pardon. He has deep ties to World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture that the Republican president and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. launched in September.
Trump's latest financial disclosure report shows he earned more than $57 million last year from World Liberty Financial, which launched USD1, a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the US dollar.
World Liberty Financial also recently announced that an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates will use $1 worth of $2 billion to buy a stake in Binance. Zhao also said publicly that he asked Trump for a pardon that could overturn his conviction.
White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said in a statement Thursday that the Biden administration prosecuted Zhao out of a “desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry.” She said there were “no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims,” although Zhao pleaded guilty in November to one count of failing to implement an anti-money laundering program.
“This is where I failed,” Zhao told the court last year. “I deeply regret my failure and am sorry.”
