U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a full presidential pardon for Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, the cryptocurrency executive who served a four-month prison sentence last year after pleading guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act, the White House confirmed Thursday.
The pardon, announced by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, marks one of the most high-profile clemencies Trump has granted since returning to office and signals a renewed shift in Washington's approach to cryptocurrency regulation. "President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency," Leavitt said in a statement.
Zhao, 47, was sentenced in April 2024 after pleading guilty the previous November to charges tied to anti-money-laundering failures at Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange. As part of the plea deal, he stepped down as CEO, and Binance paid $4.3 billion to settle with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Federal prosecutors had sought a three-year sentence, citing the scale of the violations and Zhao's leadership role in what they described as systematic noncompliance with financial laws. He ultimately served four months before being released earlier this year.
The pardon allows Zhao, a Canadian citizen born in China, to resume business operations in the U.S. and potentially return to the exchange he founded in 2017. Binance has not commented publicly on whether Zhao will rejoin its leadership, but the move is seen as clearing a major regulatory barrier for his reentry into the crypto sector.
Zhao confirmed earlier this year that he had petitioned for clemency. Reports from Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal indicated that his legal team formally submitted a pardon request in May, arguing that Zhao had "fully accepted responsibility" and completed his sentence.
BNB, the token associated with Binance and the BNB Chain, rose more than 3% within minutes of the announcement, reflecting optimism among investors that Zhao's return could restore confidence in the platform's long-term growth.
