--- title: "Trump Can’t Explain Why He Pardoned Crypto CEO Who Did Huge Financial Favors for Him" description: "Donald Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, whose company facilitated a multibillion-dollar deal involving the Trump family." date: "2025-11-03" modified: "2025-11-03" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/trump-explain-pardoned-crypto-ceo-favors" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" --- # Trump Can’t Explain Why He Pardoned Crypto CEO Who Did Huge Financial Favors for Him ![Donald Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, whose company facilitated a multibillion-dollar deal involving the Trump family.]() *Jason Redmond / AFP* Eleven days ago, president Donald Trump [pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao](), whose crypto exchange facilitated a multibillion-dollar deal involving the Trump family's own World Liberty Financial. Just hours later, he [told a reporter]() that he didn't know why the White House had decided to pardon Zhao, highlighting what [*MSNBC* is calling]() a "brazenly corrupt pardon." "I don't know," he said bluntly at the time. "He was recommended by a lot of people." During a Sunday [interview with *CBS News*](), Trump once again professed ignorance about the man he had pardoned just over a week ago, a move that requires his personal signature. "I don't know who he is," he said. "I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt." The timing of the pardon is certainly eyebrow-raising, to say the very least. Binance oversaw a $2 billion purchase by an Emirati state investor of a dollar-pegged stablecoin dubbed USD1. The coin was launched in March by World Liberty Financial, which was founded by Trump and is being managed by his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. Talks surrounding the deal started around the time of last year's presidential election, [according to the *Wall Street Journal*](). Binance "deployed a team of over a dozen engineers to build the technology behind the currency," catapulting its market cap from $127 million to over $2.1 billion this spring — a deal that directly enriched the Trumps. Did Zhao make these arrangements to curry favor with the Trump family and ensure his pardon? Is Trump having issues with his memory — or is he sloppily denying a major instance of corruption? The incident once again highlights the president's extremely cozy relationship with the crypto community — his family has [made more than $800 million from the sale of crypto assets]() in just the first half of 2025 — making his claims of not knowing who Zhao is [all the more baffling](). Zhao stepped down as Binance CEO in 2023 after the firm pleaded guilty to failing to effectively maintain an anti-money laundering program, agreeing to pay a penalty of $4.3 billion. He spent four months in jail in early 2024. Despite spending time in prison, Zhao has kept his stake in Binance. Trump's repeated attempts to distance himself from the pardon come amid Republican criticism of former president Joe Biden making use of an "autopen," a machine that can mimic a person's signature to sign many documents in a short amount of time. Last week, representative and house speaker Mike Johnson [blasted the Biden administration]() for making use of such tech, calling it "one of the biggest political scandals in US history." When *CNN* chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju confronted Johnson today, asking him if he's "concerned" about being "very critical of Biden's use of the autopen," but also have Trump admit to "not knowing he pardoned a crypto billionaire who pleaded guilty to money laundering," Johnson had a peculiar answer. "I don't know anything about that," he told Raju. "I didn't see it. I'm not sure." **More on Trump:** [*Trump Administration Providing Weapons Grade Plutonium to Sam Altman*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()