Trump pardons Zhao, the crypto king who allowed Hamas transactions and was convicted of money laundering.

ROME – US President Donald Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao , aka CZ, the founder of the world's largest cryptocurrency platform, Binance , who was convicted of money laundering . Zhao pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act in Seattle federal court and agreed to a $50 million fine , agreeing to leave the company he founded in 2017 to allow it to continue operating. The former CEO admitted to enabling transactions with Hamas and other terrorist groups on the platform . The charges include money laundering, operating an unlicensed money transmission business, and violating US sanctions.

In recent months, Zhao had been active in supporting the Trump family's cryptocurrency business . According to people close to the president, cited by the Wall Street Journal , the White House chief recently expressed sympathy to his advisers for arguments portraying Zhao and others as victims of political persecution .

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Trump "exercised his constitutional authority by pardoning Mr. Zhao, who was being pursued by the Biden administration in their war on cryptocurrencies ." She added: "The Biden administration's war on crypto is over." The pardon will likely pave the way for Binance's return to the United States , after the company admitted to violating US anti-money laundering regulations in 2023.

The company spent nearly a year trying to secure a pardon for Zhao, who was released from prison in September 2024 after serving a four-month sentence on related charges. Earlier this year, the company hired lobbyist Ches McDowell to help secure the pardon. Zhao, who lives in Abu Dhabi, founded Binance in 2017 and has grown it into the largest cryptocurrency exchange, with approximately 300 million users globally.

According to the indictment, the illicit transactions enabled by Binance under Zhao's supervision caused "significant harm to the national security of the United States ." Zhao is the latest cryptocurrency industry executive to receive a pardon from Trump. In March, the president pardoned Arthur Hayes , co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange BitMex , who had pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws.