Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author｜jk
According to the latest report from The Wall Street Journal, U.S. President Donald Trump has officially pardoned CZ (Changpeng Zhao), the founder of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The White House press secretary announced: “The Biden administration's war on cryptocurrency is over.”
Details of the pardon: Signed on Wednesday, just announced
According to several informed sources, President Trump signed the pardon for CZ on Wednesday (October 22), and the news was disclosed today.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in an official announcement: “President Trump is exercising his constitutional power to grant a pardon to Mr. CZ. CZ was prosecuted during the Biden administration's war on cryptocurrency. The Biden administration's war on cryptocurrency is over.”
Recently, Trump has expressed to advisors that he sympathizes with the argument that CZ and other industry figures have been "persecuted." Several insiders close to Trump believe that the case against CZ is "quite weak and absolutely should not constitute felony charges and imprisonment."
Case Review: From Binance Settlement to Four-Month Sentence
November 2023: Guilty Plea and Settlement
On November 21, 2023, CZ reached a guilty plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, admitting to failing to establish effective anti-money laundering procedures at Binance, violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act. U.S. prosecutors accused Binance of allowing transactions that circumvented sanctions and lacking compliance controls, even involving transactions with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and suspected criminals.
As part of the settlement agreement:
- CZ personally resigned as CEO of Binance and paid a $50 million fine.
- Binance pleaded guilty and paid over $4 billion in fines, becoming one of the largest corporate settlements in U.S. history.
- Binance must undergo three years of independent compliance oversight.
- CZ is permanently banned from "managing or operating" Binance and cannot hold any executive role at Binance U.S.; the former CEO position was taken over by Richard Teng.
April 2024: Sentenced to Four Months
On April 30, 2024, CZ was sentenced to four months in prison by a U.S. federal court. Notably, CZ is the only person in U.S. history to be sentenced to prison for a single Bank Secrecy Act charge.
Path to Pardon: From Denial to Formal Application
March 2025: WSJ Report Sparks Controversy
On March 13, 2025, The Wall Street Journal published a major report claiming that representatives of the Trump family had been negotiating with Binance for the acquisition of shares in Binance U.S., while CZ was seeking a presidential pardon. The report cited several anonymous sources stating that negotiations had begun in 2024, with Trump's Middle East peace envoy and presidential confidant Steve Witkoff involved in the discussions.
That day, CZ firmly denied on social media platform X: "I'm sorry to disappoint you. The Wall Street Journal's article got the facts wrong. The fact is: I have not discussed any deal regarding Binance U.S. with… anyone." However, he also stated: "No felon would mind receiving a pardon, especially as the only person in U.S. history to be imprisoned for a single Bank Secrecy Act charge."
CZ also hinted that the report had political motives: "It feels like this article is an attack on the president and cryptocurrency, and the remnants of the Biden administration's 'war on cryptocurrency' are still at work."
Early May 2025: Public Confirmation of Pardon Application
On May 7, 2025, CZ publicly confirmed for the first time in a podcast that he had formally submitted a pardon application to the Trump administration.
CZ said: "I had my lawyer submit the application. We submitted it after the articles from Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal came out. At that time, I thought, since they are writing these articles, we might as well apply formally."
He emphasized: "We only submitted it after seeing the reports from Bloomberg and WSJ." The application was submitted around the end of March or early April, about two weeks after the media reports.
August 2025: Hires Lobbyist Close to Donald Trump Jr.
According to subsequent reports from The Wall Street Journal, on August 13, 2025, CZ hired lobbyist Ches McDowell, who is closely connected to Donald Trump Jr., specifically to advocate for his presidential pardon.
White House Internal Struggles: From "Heating Up" to Formal Decision
October 11, 2025: White House Discussions Enter Formal Stage
Odaily Planet Daily previously cited senior financial journalist Charles Gasparino reporting that on October 11, Trump was formally considering pardoning CZ during internal discussions at the White House. Sources revealed that the topic had entered formal discussion stages, but no final decision had been made yet.
Polymarket Bets Surge
After CZ quietly removed the "ex-@binance" label from his social media profile, bets on Polymarket regarding CZ's pardon fluctuated dramatically. In mid-October, the odds of CZ receiving a pardon surged to 64%, then fell back to around 45%. In the voting for "Who will Trump pardon in 2025," CZ topped the list with a 35% support rate, far exceeding former Congressman George Santos (10%) and "Bitcoin Jesus" Roger Ver (10%).
After the pardon news broke, Binance's native token BNB quickly surged from 1083 USDT to a high of 1160 USDT, with a 24H increase of 6.7%.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
