Former Binance CEO Allegedly Linked to Trump-Related Crypto Projects While Seeking Pardon
According to a Bloomberg News report on July 11, former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (also known as CZ) was involved in crypto projects connected to Donald Trump’s family while also privately asking Trump for a presidential pardon.
The report says Binance helped create the smart contract for a stablecoin called USD1. This coin is issued by World Liberty Financial, a company tied to Trump. Sources told Bloomberg that USD1 was used in a $2 billion investment in Binance by MGX, a company from the UAE.
Blockchain data shows that about 90% of the USD1 tokens are stored in Binance wallets. A document from World Liberty suggests the Trump family could earn $30 million per year from interest on the reserves behind the coin.
Binance said that listing USD1 followed their usual procedures and that Zhao’s pardon request was a personal matter, not related to Binance.
Zhao, who pleaded guilty in 2023 to breaking anti-money-laundering laws, talked about his pardon request on a podcast called Farokh Radio. He previously stayed in a halfway house in California.
World Liberty denied the report’s claims, calling them false and politically motivated. Zhao also denied earlier similar accusations made by The Wall Street Journal.
Some ethics experts are concerned. Richard Painter, who worked as a White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, said it’s very unusual for a president to have personal financial interests that could affect official decisions.
Trump’s team insists there are no conflicts of interest. They say his business assets are managed in a trust run by his son, Donald Trump Jr. A past ethics agreement says Trump only gets general updates on his businesses.
Bloomberg also reported that crypto projects connected to Trump have boosted his wealth by at least $620 million in recent months. Two sources said Zhao met with World Liberty co-founder and Trump supporter Steve Witkoff at a Bitcoin event in Abu Dhabi in December 2024. However, someone close to Witkoff denied this meeting ever happened.
Witkoff, who now serves as Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, plans to hand over his shares in World Liberty to his adult sons, according to the White House.
By March 2025, Binance and World Liberty were said to be discussing a new stablecoin. Soon after, World Liberty announced a new token on Binance’s blockchain. Around the same time, Zhao’s request for a pardon became public.
