Donald Trump Grants Pardon to Changpeng Zhao (CZ): Reports

According to multiple reports, the US President, Donald Trump, has granted a pardon to Binance founder and former CEO, Changpeng Zhao.

Reuters reports:

In a statement, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had “exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency.”

Recall that CZ stepped down as CEO of Binance following a $4.3 billion settlement between the exchange and the US government, which marked the end of a years-long probe into alleged misconduct on behalf of Binance.

Expectedly, the exchange’s native token reacted with an immediate price uptick. BNB traded at $1,075 ahead of the reports going live and surged by 7.5% immediately to over $1,150 before it calmed at around $1,130 as of press time.

Aside from having to abdicate his CEO position at Binance, CZ also agreed to pay a $50 million fine and spend four months in a US prison. He was released from custody in September last year, but was still prohibited from resuming his leadership position at the exchange, at least officially.

UPDATE: Shortly after our report went live, Zhao took it to X to express his gratitude to the POTUS.

Deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice.
🙏🙏🙏🙏

Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto and advance web3 worldwide.

(Still in flight, more posts to come.)…

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 23, 2025

You may also like:

• BTC, ETH, XRP Progress at Risk as Trump Condemns Israel’s Latest Attacks
• Will BTC Rocket if Trump Delivers on His Iran Deal Promise This Sunday?
• Crypto Could Still Catch Up After Iran De-Escalation Sparks Global Market Rally: Data