Trump pardons Binance cryptocurrency founder Changpeng Zhao…See More

Trump pardons Binance cryptocurrency founder Changpeng Zhao…See More

US President Donald Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, founder of the giant Binance cryptocurrency exchange, who was convicted of violating the United States’ money-laundering laws.

In a statement on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had “exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency”.

Zhao said in a post on social media platform X that he was “deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, in
He was the first person ever sentenced to prison time for such violations of that law, which requires US 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 that Zhao did.

The US Constitution gives the president broad power to issue pardons to wipe away federal criminal convictions, or commutations to modify sentences. Historically, presidents have