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Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, aka CZ, says he was surprised by Donald Trump’s pardon and denied it was a result of business ties with the President or his family.
In an interview with Fox News, Zhao said that he has never met with Trump and that he has only met Trump’s son, Eric, once at the Bitcoin Middle East and North Africa conference in Abu Dhabi.
Zhao Was Unaware Of The Status Of His Pardon
“I did not know when or if it was going to happen,” he said of the pardon. “I believe my lawyers submitted the petition in April, and it took a few months. I didn’t know the progress.”
The pardon just “happened one day,” he said, calling the notion he was pardoned because of business links with the Trump family ”categorically false information.”
”There’s no deal, there has never been any discussions,” Zhao added. ”It’s as simple as that.”
Trump’s CZ Pardon Had Mixed Reactions
Zhao pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering (AML) program at Binance.
As part of a plea deal, Zhao had to step down from his role as Binance’s CEO and was sentenced to four months in prison.
Deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice.
🙏🙏🙏🙏Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto and advance web3 worldwide.
(Still in flight, more posts to come.)…
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 23, 2025
While the crypto community celebrated Zhao’s pardon and saw it as a reversal of the anti-crypto policies of the former Joe Biden administration, some Democratic lawmakers criticized it.
Maxine Waters accused Trump of entering into a “pay-to-play” agreement. It sends a ”dangerous and reckless message to white-collar criminals and the entire cryptocurrency industry” she said.
”It’s telling crypto criminals that they can break the law, defraud investors, and get away with it, as long as they are also Trump’s benefactors,” she added.
Meanwhile, Senator Elizabeth Warren and several other democratic lawmakers slammed the pardon in an open letter they penned to attorney general Pam Bondi.
Open letter penned to Bondi (Source: US Senate)
White House Called ’24/7 Corruption Machine’
Senator Chris Murphy accused the White House of corruption.
“One week after Trump pardoned Binance’s owner (for a stunning array of crimes related to terrorist and sex predator financing), Binance starts promoting Trump crypto,” Murphy said on X. ”The White House is a full time, 24/7 corruption machine.”
The remarks came after Binance.US announced it would open deposits for USD1, a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial, and began trading a USD1/USDT pair.
Binance.US denied any political motive, saying the listings were “approved for some time” through its usual review process. It added that more than twenty major exchanges, including Coinbase and Bybit, have also listed the tokens.
”To be clear, this was a business decision on the part of @BinanceUS and nothing more,” it said.
Trump Said Zhao Victim Of A “Biden Witch Hunt”
Following the pardon, Trump said that he does not know Zhao personally and that his advisors had told him that the case against Zhao was politically motivated.
“He had a lot of support, and they said that what he did is not even a crime, it wasn’t a crime,” Trump said. ”He was persecuted by the Biden administration.”
Trump also appeared on the CBS show 60 Minutes and said he does not know who who CZ is.
Trump added that Zhao was targeted in a “witch hunt” carried out by the Biden administration.
Asked whether the pardon was “pay to play” given Binance’s business interactions with family’s World Liberty Financial, Trump responded that he knows “very little about it,” adding that his sons are more involved in the crypto space than he is.
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