White House: "Biden's War on Cryptocurrency Is Over"
WSJ: "Binance Helped the Trump Family"...Conflict of Interest Controversy
U.S. President Donald Trump has granted a surprise pardon to Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.
White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt stated on the 23rd (local time), "President Trump, exercising the powers granted by the Constitution, has pardoned Zhao, who was prosecuted under the Biden administration's war on cryptocurrency."
She said, "The Biden administration targeted Zhao for prosecution with the aim of punishing the cryptocurrency industry, despite there being no proven fraud or identified victims. Such actions by the Biden administration have severely damaged the reputation of the United States as a global leader in technology and innovation. The Biden administration's war on cryptocurrency is now over," she explained.
Zhao founded Binance in 2017 and grew it into the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, serving as many as 300 million users globally. However, in 2023, he was indicted for violating anti-money laundering laws and served a four-month prison sentence.
U.S. media outlets have pointed out that controversy over a conflict of interest is intensifying, given that Binance has supported the Trump family's cryptocurrency business. Previously, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump family earned $4.5 billion through cryptocurrency ventures after the 2024 election, aided by partnerships with trading platforms secretly managed by Binance.
On the same day, Zhao posted on his social networking service (X, formerly Twitter), "I express my deep gratitude for today's pardon and thank President Trump for supporting America's commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice. I will do my utmost to make the United States the capital of cryptocurrency and to advance Web3 globally," he said.
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