Trump pardon of the former Binance CEO sparks unproven conflict of interest
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The dominant narrative around President Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (“CZ”) is one word: corruption. You can see it in the talking points:
- Rep. Maxine Waters: “The pardon… a blatant example of pay-to-play corruption.”
- Tommy Vietor: “Trump’s crypto company made a multi-billion-dollar deal in partnership with Binance, so Trump gave the founder a pardon.”
- Sen. Ruben Gallego: “It’s corruption on full display.”
From those lines, you’d think Binance and CZ have an active business relationship with the Trumps. They don’t. That claim is unsubstantiated. There are no receipts because there’s no deal to show.
What Actually Happened—and Why People Are Confused
Earlier this year, Binance announced a $2 billion investment from MGX—a landmark deal and the first institutional investment for the world’s largest crypto exchange. I discussed it with CEO Richard Teng at the DC Blockchain Summit in March.
Where the plot gets twisted: MGX’s investment was funded in USD1, a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, Inc. Public reporting indicates the Trump family holds a minority stake in World Liberty Financial via DT Marks DeFi LLC. USD1 is multichain, with deployments on BNB Chain and Ethereum.
What That Does Not Mean
Paying in USD1 does not create a business partnership between Binance/CZ and the Trump family.
A token operating on BNB Chain does not imply a commercial relationship with Binance; BNB Chain is an open blockchain anyone can build on.
The only “receipt” here: DT Marks DeFi LLC → minority interest in WLF → WLF issues USD1 → USD1 exists on BNB Chain/Ethereum → MGX used USD1 in the Binance deal.
That chain of facts doesn’t establish a Trump–Binance/CZ partnership, and it doesn’t prove the pardon was quid-pro-quo. It shows instrumental use of a public-chain stablecoin, not a private business arrangement. By that logic, buying bourbon with U.S. dollars would make you a business partner of the U.S. government—or of Kentucky. If anyone has hard evidence of a direct Trump–CZ/Binance business deal, present it. Until then, this storyline is conjecture dressed up as certainty.
TRUMP PARDONS FORMER BINANCE CEO
Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, speaks at the Delta Summit, Malta’s official Blockchain and Digital Innovation event promoting cryptocurrency, in St Julian’s, Malta October 4, 2018. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi ( REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi / Reuters Photos)
What the Case Against CZ Really Was—and Wasn’t
The record shows:
CZ pleaded to a single, non-fraud Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) count: failure to implement an effective AML (anti-money laundering) program.
The court record does not establish that CZ knowingly facilitated illicit transactions.
Compared to how…
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