US President Donald Trump has pardoned former Binance CEO Chao Changpeng, who was convicted of money laundering.
Published October 23, 2025
US President Donald Trump has pardoned Chao Changpeng, the founder of major cryptocurrency exchange Binance, who was convicted of violating US money laundering laws.
White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said in a statement Thursday that President Trump “exercised his constitutional authority by pardoning Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden administration in the crypto war.”
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“I am deeply grateful to President Trump for today’s pardon and for supporting America’s commitment to equity, innovation, and justice,” Zhao said in a post on social media platform X. He added: “We will do everything in our power to make America the crypto capital.”
Billionaire Chao, one of the most powerful figures in the crypto sector, resigned as Binance’s chief executive in 2023 after the company pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program and paid a $4.3 million penalty.
Mr. Chao, a Chinese-born Canadian citizen, was released last year after serving a four-month sentence for violating the Bank Secrecy Act.
He was the first person to be sentenced to prison for violating the law, which requires U.S. financial institutions to know their customers, monitor transactions and report suspicious activity. Prosecutors said no one violated the regulations more than Mr. Zhao.
The U.S. Constitution gives the president broad authority to issue pardons to reverse federal criminal convictions and commutations to modify sentences. Historically, presidents have mostly waited until the end of their terms to exercise such powers, but there is no requirement that they do so.
Zhao told a podcaster in May that he had applied for a pardon from the Trump administration, adding that he had never spoken to the president.
Mr. Zhao’s pardon is the latest in a series of pardons Mr. Trump has granted to crypto industry executives, entrepreneurs, and others convicted of white-collar crimes.
Details of the pardon have not yet been disclosed, but it could pave the way for Chao to return to the business he co-founded in 2017. It could also be an opportunity for Binance to expand in the U.S. as the cryptocurrency industry booms under the Trump administration.
The Republican president has garnered support from the crypto sector for his second term in office by pledging that his administration would reverse former President Joe Biden’s policies that targeted crypto companies for fraud and illegal financial violations.
In March, President Trump also pardoned three co-founders of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, who pleaded guilty in 2022 to failing to implement an anti-money laundering program that complies with the Bank Secrecy Act.
He also pardoned the founder of electric truck company Nikola, who was convicted of fraud, and commuted the sentences of executives at now-defunct startup Ozzy Media.
In January, President Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison for running Silk Road, an underground online market, but remains a popular figure in the cryptocurrency community.
