Binance

WASHINGTON — President Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who created the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and served prison time for failing to stop criminals from using the platform to move money connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism.

The pardon caps a monthslong effort by Zhao, a billionaire commonly known as CZ in the crypto world and one of the biggest names in the industry. He and Binance have been key supporters of some of the Trump family’s crypto enterprises.

“Deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice,” Zhao said on social media Thursday.

Zhao’s pardon is the last move by a president who has flexed his executive power to bestow clemency on political allies, prominent public figures and others convicted of crimes.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the pardon in a statement and later told reporters in a briefing that the White House counsel’s office “thoroughly reviewed” the request. She said the administration of Democratic President Biden pursued “an egregious oversentencing” in the case, was “very hostile to the cryptocurrency industry” and Trump “wants to correct this overreach.”

The crypto industry has also long complained it was subject to a “regulation by enforcement” ethos under the Biden administration. Trump’s pardon of Zhao fits into a broad pattern of his taking a hands-off approach to an industry that spent heavily to help him win the election in 2024. His administration has dropped several enforcement actions against crypto companies that began during Biden’s term and disbanded the crypto-related enforcement team at the Justice Department.

Former federal prosecutor Mark Bini said Zhao went to prison for what “sounds like a regulatory offense, or at worst its kissing cousin.”

“So this pardon, while it involves the biggest name in crypto, is not very surprising,” said Bini, a white collar defense lawyer who handles crypto issues at Reed Smith.

Zhao was released from prison last year after receiving a four-month sentence for violating the Bank Secrecy Act. He was the first person ever sentenced to prison time for such violations of that law, which requires U.S. financial institutions to know who their customers are, to monitor transactions and to file reports of suspicious activity. Prosecutors said no one had ever violated the regulations to the extent Zhao did.

The judge in the case said he was troubled by Zhao’s decision to ignore U.S. banking requirements that would have slowed the company’s explosive growth.

“Better to ask for forgiveness than permission,” was what Zhao told his employees about the company’s approach to U.S. law, prosecutors said. Binance allowed more than 1.5 million virtual currency trades, totaling nearly $900 million, that violated U.S. sanctions, including ones involving Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, Al Qaeda and Iran, prosecutors said.

“I failed here,” Zhao told the court last year during sentencing. “I deeply regret my failure, and I am sorry.”

Zhao had a remarkable path to becoming a crypto billionaire. He grew up in rural China and his family immigrated to Canada after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. As a teenager, he worked at a McDonald’s and became enamored with the tech industry in college. He founded Binance in 2017.

In addition to taking pro-crypto enforcement and regulatory positions, the president and his family have plunged headfirst into making money in crypto.

A stablecoin launched by World Liberty Financial, a crypto project founded by Trump and sons Donald Jr. and Eric, received early support and credibility thanks to an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates using $2-billion worth of World Liberty’s stablecoin to purchase a stake in Binance. Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency typically tied to the value of the U.S. dollar.

A separate World Liberty Financial token saw a huge spike in price Thursday shortly after news of the pardon was made public, with gains that far outpaced any other major cryptocurrency, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Zhao said earlier this year that his lawyers had requested a pardon.

It is not immediately clear what effect Trump’s pardon of Zhao may have for operations at Binance and Binance.US, a separate arm of the main exchange offering more limited trading options to U.S. residents.

Weissert and Suderman write for the Associated Press. Suderman reported from Richmond, Va.

Oct. 23 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has pardoned Binance cryptocurrency exchange founder Changpeng Zhao, who had pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in 2023.

The guilty plea was part of a $4.3 billion settlement between Binance and the Justice Department to end the investigation into the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, CBS News reported.

Binance paid the settlement after the DOJ determined it helped users to get around federal sanctions.

The settlement required Zhao to resign from his position as Binance’s chief executive officer and serve four months in prison.

The Binance settlement also caused the Philippines to order Google and Apple to remove the Binance app from their respective app offerings.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Zhao’s plea deal and the investigation against Binance arose from what she called the Biden administration’s “war on cryptocurrency,” as reported by The Hill.

“In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims,” Leavitt said in a prepared statement.

“The Biden administration sought to imprison Mr. Zhao for three years, a sentence so outside sentencing guidelines that even the judge said he had never heard of this in his 30-year career,” Leavitt added.

“These actions by the Biden administration severely damaged the United States’ reputation as a global leader in technology and innovation.”

The president issued the pardon in accordance with his constitutional authority, she said, adding that “the Biden administration’s war on crypto is over.”

In a social media post in which he identified himself as “CZ,” Zhao thanked the president “for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation and justice” by pardoning him.

He said he will “help make America the capital of crypto” and help make decentralized web3 Internet technology available globally.

Zhao’s pardon came after a news report indicated that Binance assists the Trump family with its cryptocurrency endeavor.

The Wall Street Journal two months ago reported that a cryptocurrency venture created by the Trump family has accrued $4.5 billion with the help of Binance since the president won the Nov. 5 election, according to CNBC.

Published on
08/08/2025 – 14:08 GMT+2

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Binance is partnering with Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) to allow crypto customers to store their funds with the bank instead of keeping them directly on the crypto exchange, according to reporting by the Financial Times.

The move is aimed at rebuilding trust with investors after Binance was hit with a record fine from US regulators nearly two years ago.

Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, and it handles billions of dollars in trades each day across hundreds of cryptocurrencies.

What does this mean for crypto?

BBVA, as a bank, will act as an “independent custodian” or a separate and trusted third party and ensure a greater level of safety when it comes to customers’ funds or assets that are traded through Binance.

As the second largest bank in Spain and praised for its innovation and sustainability, BBVA will act as a security guarantee, giving traders a reduced risk while encouraging them to invest in the high-returns crypto exchange.

By storing them with BBVA, if Binance runs into trouble, like being hacked, declaring bankruptcy or facing regulatory action, the funds would still be safe with BBVA.

Banks are much more closely regulated than crypto exchanges, so BBVA’s obligation to follow compliance rules should lead to more interest in crypto overall.

Essentially, the move is akin to putting your valuables in a safe or a secure bank, instead of being displayed in a storefront as they’re being bought and sold.

Binance trying to clean up its reputation

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, got slammed in 2023 with a record $4.3 billion (€3.69bn) fine after US regulators accused it of not keeping checks on its trading floor.

US officials said Binance allowed shady funds to flow through its exchange and allegedly permitted laundered money to be used, helping its big clients dodge the rules.

Founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao stepped down and served four months in prison for failing to stop money laundering.

Now, with regulators watching its every move, Binance is trying to clean up its act and by partnering with Spain’s BBVA, hopes to prove it can play by the rules.

Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao thanked the SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and the Trump team for “pushing back against regulation by enforcement.”

The SEC and Binance have filed a joint motion to end a nearly two-year legal dispute, marking yet another backdown in the agency’s dealings with crypto firms.

SEC Chair Paul Atkins, a former crypto lobbyist, has taken a much softer stance than his predecessor, Gary Gensler. It sends a message that the United States is open for crypto business, enhancing the industry’s potential to innovate and build without the risk of legal retaliation.

This vibe shift has been a driving force behind the recent crypto price rally, and the latest SEC settlement indicates that the trend isn’t slowing down. With that in mind, investors have real opportunity to profit if they successfully identify the best crypto to buy. So here are our top picks.

BTC Bull Token

BTC Bull Token is a Bitcoin-themed meme coin that pays real Bitcoin rewards. It will monitor Bitcoin’s price and run airdrops at key milestones. The first will occur when Bitcoin reaches $150K, and the second will happen when it hits $200K.

JD Vance recently spoke at the Bitcoin 2025 conference and said he expects the number of Americans owning Bitcoin to double from 50 million to 100 million in the near future. BTC Bull Token is actively working toward increasing Bitcoin ownership, which is why it could be a smart buy.

The project is currently undergoing a presale, which has raised over $6 million to date, indicating substantial market interest.

The project also has a staking mechanism that currently provides a 62% APY. Moreover, $BTCBULL has a built-in burn mechanism that will destroy a portion of the token’s total supply at key Bitcoin milestones. The first will be at $125K, and then with $50K increases afterward.

With a meme coin allure and innovative community reward features and tokenomics, everything is in place for $BTCBULL to thrive this year.

BNB

Solaxy

Solaxy is building the world’s first Solana layer 2 blockchain. Solana is another cryptocurrency that the Gary Gensler’s SEC deemed a security; however, that definition has been dropped under Atkins.

In fact, Solana has been embraced by the Trump administration, having even been added into the US’s newfound crypto stockpile.

While this positions Solana for growth, shrewd investors may buy Solaxy instead. Its layer 2 blockchain tackles Solana’s congestion issue, which leads to longer wait times and increased rates of transaction failures in periods of peak network activity.

The project is undergoing a presale where it has raised a whopping $42 million so far.

In recent weeks, Solaxy has made several major announcements, including a native DEX, a token launchpad, and the end to its presale in 17 days. All of this is culminating into a sense of FOMO, which is causing the Solaxy presale raise to soar.

However, with a promising use case and growing momentum, there’s every chance that this translates into the $SOLX price rallying once it hits exchanges.

XRP

While not directly related to the recent Binance-SEC news, XRP also experienced its own version of this a few weeks ago when the SEC dropped its long-standing lawsuit against Ripple Labs.

The next bull market rally will be the first time since 2020 that XRP has been able to climb without an overhanging lawsuit – that could result in explosive gains.

It’s no secret that XRP is a fan favourite cryptocurrency; its goal of being a cross-border payment solution for banks and institutions is surprisingly popular with retail investors.

With the lawsuit out of the way, investors may now purchase XRP with more confidence. This could generate bigger liquidity flows and cause the price to surge.

To understand the popularity of XRP, look back at its performance in November. It soared 5X and added $120 billion to its market cap in one month after Donald Trump won the US presidential election.

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