Trump pardons Binance founder CZ Zhao
Zhao was released from prison last year after being sentenced to four months in prison for violating the Bank Secrecy Act. He was the first person to be sentenced to prison for such violations of the law, which requires U.S. financial institutions to know the identity of their customers, monitor transactions and prepare reports of suspicious activity. Prosecutors said no one violated the rules more than Zhao.
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.
Trump’s pardon of Zhao fits a broad pattern of his approach to not intervening in an industry that is spending heavily to help him win the 2024 election.Credit: access point
Prosecutors said Zhao told employees it was “better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission” about the company’s approach to U.S. law. Prosecutors said Binance authorized the trade of more than 1.5 million virtual currencies totaling nearly $900 million in violation of U.S. sanctions, including those involving Hamas’ Al Qassam Brigades, Al Qaeda and Iran.
“I failed here,” Zhao told the court during sentencing last year. “I deeply regret my failure and apologize.”
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. He worked at McDonald’s in his youth and fell in love with the tech industry in college. He founded Binance in 2017.
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In addition to taking pro-crypto enforcement and regulatory positions, the president and his family have also dove headfirst into cryptocurrency mining.
Trump and his sons Donald Jr. A stablecoin launched by World Liberty Financial, a crypto project founded by and Eric, gained early support and credibility after an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates used $2 billion worth of World Liberty’s stablecoin to buy a stake in Binance. Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency that is generally tied to the value of the US dollar.
A separate World Liberty Finance token saw a massive surge in price shortly after news of the amnesty was made public on Thursday, far outperforming other major cryptocurrencies, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Zhao said earlier this year that his lawyers had requested clemency.
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It was not immediately clear what impact Trump’s pardon of Zhao might have on operations at Binance and Binance.US, a separate arm of the main exchange that offers more limited trading options to U.S. residents.
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