Binance CEO denies firm aided Trump-linked crypto project before CZ pardon
Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, during the DC Blockchain Summit in Washington, DC, USA, on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.
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Binance CEO Richard Teng has denied allegations that the cryptocurrency exchange helped boost a Trump-backed stablecoin before former CEO Changpeng Zhao received a presidential pardon.
The allegations in question relate to the $2 billion investment Binance received from Abu Dhabi’s state-owned investment company MGX. The deal was made using USD1, a stablecoin created by the Trump family’s crypto venture World Liberty Financial.
MGX’s investment and Binance’s next USD1 listing exchange helped strengthen stablecoin usage and reliabilitySome lawmakers and reports suggest this may have affected the pardon of Zhao, commonly known as CZ.
But in an interview with CNBC on Monday, Teng rejected the idea that Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency company, is giving USD1 any preferential treatment.
“First of all, USD1 usage [for the] “As a strategic investor, it is a transaction between MGX and Binance decided by MGX… We did not agree with this decision,” Teng said.
He noted that USD1 was listed on other exchanges before Binance, adding that as the “world’s largest crypto ecosystem,” the company is regularly busy with promising new projects.
“Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. In the case of USD1, I’m glad both parties worked it out.”
Corruption accusations
Teng’s denials follow Wall Street Journal reported Last week, Binance not only facilitated the settlement of MGX’s investment using USD1, but also helped create the technology behind the stablecoin, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
Magazine He also previously stated that World Liberty Financial has benefited greatly from the listing of its USD1 token on Binance and its partnership with Pancake Swap, an online marketplace for cryptocurrencies said to be associated with Binance.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders on Capitol Hill continue to scrutinize CZ’s pardon and Binance’s ties to Trump-linked World Liberty Financial.
Among the most prominent voices is Senator Elizabeth Warren, ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, who has accused Binance and the Trump administration of corruption.
One expression The vocal critic of the crypto industry said last month: “First Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to money laundering charges. Then he supported one of Donald Trump’s crypto initiatives and lobbied for a pardon.” The president then did “his part.”
Binance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Critics have long questioned World Liberty Financial’s apparent ties to the Trump administration as it seeks new partnerships and investors abroad.
Accordingly World Liberty Financial’s websiteDT Marks DEFI LLC, a firm affiliated with Trump, along with members of the Trump family, receives a large share of the platform’s revenue and holds the digital tokens that back the company, known as WLFI. The firm reportedly made hundreds of millions to billions of dollars in profits to the Trump family.
But it also states that Trump, his family, or any member of the Trump Organization or DT Marks DEFI LLC are not “an officer, director, founder, or employee of, or a manager, owner, or operator of, World Liberty Financial or its affiliates.”
MGX’s $2 billion purchase of USD1 token also attracted attention after the New York Times report In September, he noted that this happened two weeks before the White House signed a major deal with the UAE on access to hundreds of thousands of American microchips.
In an interview with CNBC last month, Donald Trump Jr., the US president’s eldest son and co-founder of World Liberty Financial, dismissed reports and broader concerns about possible conflicts of interest.
He was joined by the firm’s CEO, Zach Witkoff, son of US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff, who said that their father was not focused on this business and was not directly involved in it.
Trump’s embrace of crypto
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Oct. 23 that Zhao was prosecuted under the Biden administration “despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims.”
Trump later said he pardoned Zhao”upon request He said they were “very nice people” and that he didn’t know anything about him.
Since returning to office, Trump has embraced the crypto industry, proposing new crypto legislation and withdrawing enforcement actions targeting cryptocurrency exchanges. coinbase and Ripple during previous implementation.
Speaking on Monday, Teng said Binance and the crypto industry were “very grateful” to the president for CZ’s pardon and signaling that the United States would become the “global crypto capital of the world.”
