CZ Denies Trump Family Negotiations to Buy Binance.US Shares

The Trump family is in talks with Binance.US to buy shares, which is seen as a deal that would help Changpeng Zhao (CZ) receive a pardon from the Trump administration.

Less than an hour after the news broke, Changpeng Zhao (CZ) completely denied the information on social network X (formerly Twitter). He said that WSJ deliberately distorted the truth and questioned hundreds of people to create a story that attracted attention.

CZ affirmed:

He did not have any discussions about Binance.US with anyone.

There is no agreement between him and the Trump administration on the issue of pardon.

He acknowledged that anyone with a criminal record would want a pardon, but the WSJ's deliberate reporting of the story in this way could be an "attack" on President Trump and the crypto industry in general.

He also stressed that "the remnants of the previous administration's war on crypto are still going on," referring to forces that want to suppress the development of cryptocurrencies.

CZ ended the post with a sarcastic comment, "It's nice to see that even the WSJ thinks I should be pardoned."

Trump family considers investing in Binance.US

According to a source from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), President Donald Trump's family has been in talks to own a stake in Binance.US. The move comes as Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, looks to re-enter the US market after running into serious regulatory trouble in 2023.

The deal could be done through World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a crypto company backed by the Trump family. However, it is unclear whether the deal is linked to a possible pardon for Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Binance's founder, who was forced to step down as CEO and serve a four-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to money laundering violations in 2023.

Binance looks to resolve regulatory issues to return to the US

Binance has been accused by US authorities of facilitating transactions with sanctioned groups such as Hamas and ISIS, as well as helping US users evade anti-money laundering regulations. As a result, Binance was fined $4.3 billion and CZ had to step down as CEO.

However, Binance is still looking to re-enter the US market. Following Trump’s election victory, Binance has formed a strategy team to evaluate options for working with the Trump family and clearing regulatory hurdles. One of the options being considered is seeking a pardon for CZ, which could help Binance legitimize its operations in the US and ease its expansion into other markets like Europe.

If the Trump-Binance deal goes through, it would be a major step forward in expanding the Trump family’s influence in the crypto industry. Tron founder Justin Sun previously invested $30 million in World Liberty Financial while he was facing charges from the SEC.

Trump and crypto pardons

Trump has been pro-crypto since his return to politics, with a series of moves in support of the industry. On January 22, 2025, he signed an unconditional pardon for Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, a darknet marketplace that was the largest Bitcoin trading platform in the early 2010s.

Ulbricht was sentenced to two life terms without parole for money laundering, drug trafficking, and identity fraud. However, many in the crypto community believe that Silk Road, despite being an illegal platform, helped Bitcoin gain wider acceptance in its early days. Trump’s pardon of Ulbricht has led many to speculate that he may continue to make concessions to other crypto figures, including CZ.

Not only CZ, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) – former CEO of FTX, currently serving a 25-year sentence for financial fraud – is also seeking a pardon from Trump. In an interview from a Brooklyn jail, SBF claimed that his case was politically manipulated under the Biden administration and tried to convince Trump that they had a common enemy in Judge Lewis Kaplan. However, unlike Ulbricht or CZ, SBF is still considered a "fraud" by many in the crypto industry and the possibility of a pardon is considered very low.

The BNB token representing the Binance exchange immediately reacted positively, rising 6% immediately after the news, from $577 to $600, currently trading around $589 per coin. However, this is still a decrease of more than 7% in the past month, due to the general situation due to the new tariff policies that the Trump administration is imposing on the financial market.