Would Donald Trump Pardon Former Binance CEO CZ?

By Ryan S. Gladwin

Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao says that he wouldn’t turn down being pardoned by U.S. President Joe Biden, despite not wanting to return as CEO of the crypto exchange.

CZ pled guilty to money laundering charges last year, agreeing to step down as CEO and receiving a lifetime ban from “managing or operating” Binance. He was released from a 4-month stint in prison in September and has since pivoted to becoming an investor in artificial intelligence (AI).

In the U.S., the President can forgive individuals convicted of crimes in what is called a ‘pardon.’ This effectively wipes the punishment from the person’s record, meaning in this case CZ could return as CEO of Binance.

On Sunday, President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden. Earlier this year he pleaded guilty to tax and gun charges earlier this year and has been awaiting sentencing. In response, people started to discuss the possibility of CZ being pardoned as well.

“President Donald Trump  should consider a pardon for CZ so he can return to being the CEO of Binance  and help the crypto industry mature,” John Lilic, co-founder of centralized exchange TelosX, wrote on Twitter. “He is also a victim of law fare.”

“[I have] no wish to be CEO again,” CZ replied. “But [I] definitely wouldn’t mind a pardon.”

In response to the news of Biden pardoning his son, CZ cheekily retweeted the message with an eyes emoji. Replies to the former CEO’s tweet are flooded with people claiming that he should be pardoned next. CZ has replied to them by laughing.

Most people are looking for Donald Trump to pardon the crypto founder, rather than Joe Biden. This is because of the Republican’s pro-crypto stance that promises to shake up the industry.

Trump promised to end the “crypto crackdown,” replacing it with friendlier regulation, as well as to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve and dominate the Bitcoin mining industry.

Prior to securing re-election, the Republican candidate promised to pardon Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who is currently in his 12th year in prison, via a post on Truth Social—some crypto enthusiasts saw this as a positive move, while others were more skeptical. But pardoning CZ is likely to be a more popular crypto-related pardoning move for Trump to start with.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.

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