Deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice.
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 23, 2025
Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto and advance web3 worldwide.
(Still in flight, more posts to come.)…
Donald Trump has granted a pardon to Changpeng Zhao, former CEO of Binance, reigniting debates on the links between political power and the crypto industry. In a context of increased regulation, this act raises questions about the growing influence of platforms in the public sphere. The decision, confirmed by the White House, triggered an immediate market reaction and revived tensions around conflicts of interest between the political sphere and financial technologies.
In brief
- •Donald Trump has granted a presidential pardon to Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, who was convicted in 2023 for money laundering.
- •This decision, confirmed by the White House, immediately triggered a reaction in the crypto markets, particularly among tokens linked to Zhao.
- •BNB rose by 4.7 %, the meme coin “4” surged by 32 %, and the WLFI token—backed by both Trump and Binance—jumped more than 15%.
- •WLFI is tied to a pro-Trump political project and is partly funded by a sovereign wealth fund from Abu Dhabi via the USD1 stablecoin.
Trump’s Pardon and the Immediate Market Reaction
On October 23, the White House confirmed that Donald Trump had granted a presidential pardon to Changpeng Zhao, founder and former CEO of Binance.
Zhao had pleaded guilty in 2023 to breaking U.S. money laundering laws. He was prosecuted for allowing actors linked to criminal activities to use the Binance platform, then the largest crypto exchange in the world.
CZ spoke publicly on X (formerly Twitter): "I am deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice."
Following this announcement, several cryptos linked to Zhao and the Binance ecosystem saw strong gains. Here are the main observed movements:
- •BNB, Binance’s native token, climbed 4.7 %, reaching $1,115, with a daily peak recorded at $1,149;
- •The token “4”, a memecoin linked to CZ and inspired by his regular messages mentioning the number “4”, jumped 32 %, surpassing $0.11;
- •The overall market was also impacted, with Bitcoin up nearly 2 % and Ethereum gaining about 1.3 %.
This bullish surge occurred within a context of partial recovery of the crypto market, but the most marked effect was observed on tokens directly associated with Zhao, illustrating the immediate impact that a political decision of this magnitude can have on prices.
World Liberty Financial, Binance and Trump: A Recognized Convergence of Interests
Beyond the immediate market dynamics, the presidential pardon takes place in a context of strategic rapprochement between Donald Trump and well-identified crypto projects, notably World Liberty Financial (WLFI).
This crypto, which runs on Ethereum, is associated with Trump and supported by Binance. It recorded an increase of 15.2 % following the pardon, reaching over $0.14. The USD1 stablecoin, issued within WLFI, is already available on the BNB Chain, and was used as a payment instrument for a $2 billion investment from the MGX sovereign wealth fund, based in Abu Dhabi, in Binance.
This information highlights increasingly visible financial links between Trump’s political interests, CZ’s global ambitions, and the growing influence of Middle Eastern capital in the crypto sphere. The BNB Chain, as a technological infrastructure, thus becomes a strategic vector for these operations, facilitating the integration of tokens linked to political programs and international institutional investments.
CZ’s pardon is therefore not a mere act of clemency. It could be interpreted as a political signal, reinforcing Trump’s pro-crypto stance while consolidating an axis of influence between the United States, the Middle East, and platforms like Binance, despite the recent controversial bug.