President Trump’s family is weighing the possibility of investing in Binance.US, according to the Wall Street Journal. The investment would come a few years after Binance’s U.S. unit pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws.
As part of this plea, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, paid a $4.3 billion fine and spent four months in prison in 2023. He also agreed to step down as CEO, but remains the main shareholder of the cryptocurrency exchange.
Zhao is currently the 24th richest person in the world, according to Forbes. The WSJ claims that he has been seeking clemency from the Trump administration.
Zhao’s conviction has made it difficult for Binance to find commercial partners in the United States or obtain cryptocurrency licenses in Europe. “I have not discussed the Binance US deal with… well, anyone,” Zhao said in a post on X, denying the WSJ report.
But if negotiations between Binance and representatives of the Trump family are indeed taking place, they seem to boil down to a simple question: what is the value of a presidential pardon?