Original | Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )

Author｜jk

According to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal, US President Donald Trump has officially pardoned CZ (Changpeng Zhao), the founder of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. The White House press secretary declared, "The Biden administration's war on cryptocurrency is over."

Amnesty details: Signed Wednesday, just announced

According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, President Trump signed a pardon for CZ on Wednesday (October 22), and the news was disclosed today.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an official statement: "President Trump exercised his constitutional authority to issue a pardon to Mr. CZ. CZ was prosecuted as part of the Biden administration's war on cryptocurrency. The Biden administration's war on cryptocurrency is over."

Trump recently told advisers that he sympathizes with the argument that CZ and others in the industry are being "persecuted." Several insiders close to Trump believe that the case against CZ is "very weak and should never amount to a felony charge and imprisonment."

Case Review: From Binance Settlement to Four-Month Prison

November 2023: Guilty Plea and Settlement

On November 21, 2023, CZ reached a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, admitting to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to establish effective anti-money laundering procedures at Binance. U.S. prosecutors accused Binance of allowing transactions that circumvented sanctions and lacking compliance controls, even involving transactions involving the Palestinian militant group Hamas and suspected criminals.

As part of the settlement:

• CZ resigns as Binance CEO and pays $50 million fine
• Binance pleads guilty and pays over $4 billion in fines, making it one of the largest corporate settlements in U.S. history.
• Binance must undergo three years of independent compliance oversight
• CZ was banned from "managing or operating" Binance for life and was unable to hold any executive role at Binance US. The original CEO position was taken over by Richard Teng.

April 2024: Sentenced to four months

On April 30, 2024, CZ was sentenced to four months in prison by a U.S. federal court. Notably, CZ is the only person in U.S. history to be sentenced to prison for a single Bank Secrecy Act charge.

The road to amnesty: from denial to formal application

March 2025: WSJ revelations spark controversy

On March 13, 2025, the Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report claiming that representatives of the Trump family had been in talks with Binance to acquire shares in Binance US, and that CZ was seeking a presidential pardon. The report, citing multiple anonymous sources, stated that negotiations had begun in 2024 and involved Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy for Middle East peace and a close confidant of the president.

CZ strongly denied the allegations on social media platform X that day: "I'm sorry to disappoint you. The Wall Street Journal article got the facts wrong. The fact is: I have not discussed the Binance US transaction with... anyone." But he also said: "No felon would mind being pardoned, especially as the only person in US history to be imprisoned for a single Bank Secrecy Act charge ."

CZ also suggested the report was politically motivated: "It feels like the article is an attack on the president and crypto, and that remnants of the Biden administration's 'war on crypto' are still operating."

Early May 2025: Public confirmation of application for amnesty

On May 7, 2025, CZ publicly confirmed for the first time on a podcast that he had formally submitted a pardon application to the Trump administration.

"I had my lawyer file the application," CZ said. "We filed it after the Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal articles came out. I figured, since they're writing these articles, we might as well file it."

He stressed: "We only submitted it after seeing the reports from Bloomberg and WSJ." The application was submitted around the end of March or early April, about two weeks after the media reports.

August 2025: Hire a lobbyist close to Trump Jr.

According to a subsequent report by the Wall Street Journal, CZ hired Ches McDowell, a lobbyist with close ties to Donald Trump Jr., on August 13, 2025, to specifically seek a presidential pardon for him.

Internal negotiations in the White House: From "heating up" to a formal decision

October 11, 2025: White House discussions enter formal phase

Odaily Planet Daily previously reported, citing veteran financial journalist Charles Gasparino, that on October 11th, sources indicated that Trump was formally considering a pardon for CZ during internal White House discussions. Sources revealed that the issue has entered the formal discussion stage, but no final decision has been made.

Polymarket bets surge

After CZ quietly removed the "ex-@binance" tag from his social media profiles, betting on a CZ pardon on the prediction market Polymarket fluctuated wildly. In mid-October, CZ's odds of receiving a pardon soared to 64% before falling back to around 45%. In a poll asking "Who will Trump pardon in 2025?", CZ topped the list with 35% support, far ahead of former Congressman George Santos (10%) and "Bitcoin Jesus" Roger Ver (10%).

After the news of the amnesty came out, Binance's native token BNB quickly rose from 1083 USDT to a high of 1160 USDT, a 24-hour increase of 6.7%.