The Plain Truth Staff October 31, 2025
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In a move stirring fresh questions about business, politics and crypto, President Donald Trump has granted a full and unconditional pardon to Changpeng Zhao (widely known as “CZ”), the founder of crypto-giant Binance. The decision follows a high-stakes legal and financial drama that intertwines the crypto world with the Trump family’s own business ventures.
Why the pardon?
Zhao pleaded guilty in November 2023 to violating U.S. anti-money-laundering laws, admitting that Binance “failed to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program.” He stepped down as CEO and served four months in prison in 2024.
Mr. Trump’s White House says the pardon was justified because “Mr. Zhao… was prosecuted by the Biden administration in their war on cryptocurrency.” Trump himself said that Zhao “had a lot of support from very good people… and so I gave him a pardon.” Critics say the pardon raises major concerns about conflicts of interest: Binance and the Trump family’s crypto business ties are increasingly visible.
How the Trump family made money from it
The key actor here is the Trump family-crypto venture World Liberty Financial (WLF), co-founded by Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump and linked to the Trump business empire.
• In March 2025 WLF launched a dollar-pegged stablecoin dubbed “USD1”.
• Reports indicate that Binance wrote the underlying code for USD1 and helped promote it.
• According to The Independent, an Abu Dhabi state-backed investment firm (MGX Fund Management Limited) used USD1 to invest $2 billion into Binance in a deal that reportedly benefitted WLF (and thus the Trump family). In May 2025, WLF’s stablecoin deal with MGX (via USD1 and Binance) is reported, attracting scrutiny over foreign investments and Trump family benefit.
• Since WLF’s tokens and stablecoin surged in value, the Trump family’s holdings reportedly ballooned into the billions of dollars in “paper wealth”.
The sequence of events
• According to an article in TIME, Binance faces investigations and pleas: In November 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice reached a settlement with Binance for over $4 billion in fines and Zhao’s plea.
• In early 2025, media report that the Trump family held talks with Binance about acquiring a stake in its U.S. arm.
• On October 23 2025, Trump issues the pardon for CZ.
Why this matters
• The pardon raises questions about the independence of presidential clemency when the beneficiary is a major business partner of the President’s family. Many observers call it a clear appearance of pay-to-play. It signals a sharp departure from the previous administration’s tougher stance on crypto regulation: The Trump administration describes the prior enforcement as a “war on crypto.” For Binance, the pardon could smooth the company’s path to return more fully to U.S. operations – a significant business windfall.
For the Trump family’s crypto venture, the ties and the timing suggest a business model deeply linked to the exercise of political power.
Bottom line: President Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao is not simply a gesture of clemency-it comes at the intersection of cryptocurrency, foreign investment, and the Trump family’s private enterprise. The chain of events – Binance’s legal troubles, the Trump family’s crypto venture, foreign investment via USD1, and the pardon – raises serious questions about the mingling of public office and private profit. Trump was elected in part in his promise to stop the Biden era corruption, especially with Hunter Biden making tens of millions of dollars for his family from China, Russia and Ukraine.