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Binance founder CZ Zhao, recently released from a four-month jail term for enabling money laundering, revealed he hasn't directly spoken with President Trump despite receiving a pardon. Zhao clarified his business ties with Trump's family were misconstrued, stating no direct relationships exist.
Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, who served four months in jail, has said that he has still not spoken directly with US President Donald Trump despite receiving a pardon. In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zhao said, "The closest that I got to him was today when he was doing the Board of Peace session. I was in the audience, about 30 to 40 feet away from him." He also noted that his business relationship with Trump's family has been "misconstrued" following the pardon. "There's no business relationships whatsoever," Zhao told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin.
Why did Binance founder Changpeng Zhao had to serve jail time
In 2023, the former CEO of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange pleaded guilty to charges he enabled money laundering during his time leading the company and served four months in prison.
Zhao was released in September 2024, while Trump pardoned him in October 2025.The pardon drew attention to Binance's ties to World Liberty Financial, a crypto company founded by the Trump family. The connection stems from a $2 billion investment in March 2025 by state-owned firm MGX of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, into Binance. MGX was reportedly paid using USD1, a stablecoin created by World Liberty Financial.
Zhao said, “MGX is the investor. They chose USD1. My request to them was they pay us in crypto. I don't want to deal with banks, really." He added that "many people misconstrued that." Zhao also noted the company has since converted that investment into USD1 in portions over time. "Stablecoin is just a currency for payment. Just because I accepted that, it doesn't mean I invested in the issuer of that," he explained.Following the pardon, The Wall Street Journal reported that, in addition to MGX's USD1 investment, Binance also helped build the technology behind the stablecoin, citing sources familiar with the matter.Meanwhile, the week Trump pardoned Zhao, NBC News reported that Binance had hired Charles McDowell's lobbying firm, Checkmate Government Relations. McDowell is a friend of Donald Trump Jr, the US president's son. Checkmate disclosed that it was paid $450,000 for work that included lobbying the White House and Treasury Department for "executive relief" and "financial services policy issues relating to digital assets and cryptocurrency.""There is a lot of media saying that there is some deal in place to get me the pardon. As far as I know, that does not exist at all,” Zhao said.Zhao stepped down as Binance's CEO in 2023 as part of the plea deal and $4.3 billion settlement with the Department of Justice. However, he remains a major shareholder.
What Donald Trump has said about Binance founder Changpeng Zhao
When asked about why he issued the pardon to Zhao, Trump said, “A lot of people say that he wasn't guilty of anything. And so I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people.”In a November 2025 "60 Minutes" interview, Trump confirmed that he did not know Zhao. He said, “I have no idea who he is. I was told that he was a victim, just like I was and just like many other people, of a vicious, horrible group of people in the Biden administration.”
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