Trump grants full pardon to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao

President Donald Trump has granted a full pardon to Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, signing the clemency order on Wednesday and publicly confirmed by the White House on Thursday. The pardon clears a conviction that stemmed from a 2023 plea in which Zhao admitted that Binance failed to maintain an effective antimoney laundering program; he served four months in federal prison in 2024 after being sentenced in April.

Prosecutors had alleged that Binance’s compliance failures allowed criminals to move funds tied to child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism, and that the exchange violated U.S. economic sanctions and money laundering laws. As part of the 2023 settlement, Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion to resolve those charges. Zhao pleaded guilty to one count of failing to implement an adequate antimoney laundering program, was fined $50 million and resigned as CEO under the plea agreement. At his sentencing hearing last year Zhao said, “I failed here. I deeply regret my failure, and I am sorry.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the prosecution was motivated by a desire to punish the cryptocurrency...