Zhao had asked Trump for a pardon previously. He has deep ties to World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture that the Republican president and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. launched in September. Trump's most recent financial disclosure report reveals he made more than $57 million last year from World Liberty Financial, which has launched USD1, a stablecoin pegged at a 1-to-1 ratio to the U.S. dollar.
President Donald Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the world's largest crypto exchange Binance, the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed to Fortune on Thursday. "President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency," she said in a statement. The Wall Street Journal first broke the news, reporting that Trump signed the pardon on Wednesday.
The suit challenges FinCEN's anti-money laundering rule, which requires title firms to report specific details on all-cash home purchase transactions. These include the names, addresses, dates of birth, citizenship status and ID numbers of all people involved including minors plus payment details and information about trusts and entities that are purchasing the property. The rule was promulgated under the Biden administration and is set to go into effect in December 2025.