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 decision comes after months of reports that Trump was weighing whether to pardon Zhao. The Binance founder pleaded guilty in 2023 to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering regime while he was the CEO of the crypto exchange. He stepped down as CEO and served four months in prison in 2024.
As part of the 2023 plea deal, Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle charges with the Department of Justice. Prosecutors alleged that the crypto exchange violated U.S. economic sanctions and money laundering laws. “We need a banner ‘is washing drug money too hard these days – come to binance we got cake for you,’” one compliance employee wrote in internal company communications, according to the plea agreement.
Following Zhao’s resignation as CEO, Binance installed Richard Teng, a former financial regulator in the U.A.E. and Singapore, to telegraph to authorities that the company had turned a new leaf and was focused on compliance.
Spokespeople for Binance did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The price of BNB, the cryptocurrency closely associated with Binance, rocketed 15% shortly after the news broke Thursday morning, notching a high of more than $1,150, according to data from the crypto exchange.
This story is developing and will be updated acccordingly.
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