The President of the United States (US), Donald Trump, has granted a presidential pardon to Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the convicted co-founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
The exchange was accused of enabling the free movement of illegal funds associated with serious crimes during the tenure of former US president Joe Biden.
The White House said in a statement, “In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims,” adding that the “war on crypto” was now over.
Zhao served a 4-month prison sentence in late 2023 after pleading guilty to failing to emplace appropriate anti-money laundering controls on the platform, violating US anti-money laundering laws.
His pardon wipes off his criminal record and could see the return of Binance to the US, after the company agreed to suspend its American operations while investigations were ongoing.
Following months of speculation, the pardon comes after Zhao openly asked Trump for clemency. Some analysts suggested that the pardon was as a result of Trump’s involvement in the cryptocurrency industry.
Binance was created in 2017 and quickly became the largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, making Zhao a billionaire.
