The founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, has been granted a pardon by the US President, reports indicated.
According to multiple reports, the US President, Donald Trump, has granted a pardon to Binance founder and former CEO, Changpeng Zhao.
Reuters reports:
In a statement, 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.”
Recall that CZ stepped down as CEO of Binance following a $4.3 billion settlement between the exchange and the US government, which marked the end of a years-long probe into alleged misconduct on behalf of Binance.
Expectedly, the exchange’s native token reacted with an immediate price uptick. BNB traded at $1,075 ahead of the reports going live and surged by 7.5% immediately to over $1,150 before it calmed at around $1,130 as of press time.
Aside from having to abdicate his CEO position at Binance, CZ also agreed to pay a $50 million fine and spend four months in a US prison. He was released from custody in September last year, but was still prohibited from resuming his leadership position at the exchange, at least officially.
UPDATE: Shortly after our report went live, Zhao took it to X to express his gratitude to the POTUS.
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
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Georgi Georgiev is CryptoPotato's editor-in-chief and a seasoned writer with over 8 years of experience writing about blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Georgi's passion for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies bloomed in late 2016 and he hasn't looked back since. Crypto’s technological and economic implications are what interest him most, and he has one eye turned to the market whenever he’s not sleeping.
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