According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, US President Donald Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, following months of lobbying and appeals from the company and its former CEO. The pardon was signed on Wednesday, as cited by people familiar with the matter, though no official details have been published on the White House website or in the Federal Register, where presidential pardons are typically announced.
Zhao had pleaded guilty in November 2023 to one count of failing to implement an adequate Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program at Binance, violating the Bank Secrecy Act. He was sentenced to four months in prison in April 2024 and was subsequently released from custody in September. This news was not entirely unexpected, as earlier reports by Fox Business's Charles Gasparino indicated Binance was on the verge of securing a pardon, and CZ himself confirmed during a podcast appearance earlier this year that his lawyers had applied for one.
The announcement has already had a tangible impact on the cryptocurrency market, with the price of Binance's native token BNB surging 5.1% to an intraday high of $1,138 shortly after the news broke, according to CoinGecko data. This is a developing story, and further updates are expected.
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