Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chair Caroline Pham discusses the ‘crypto sprint’ initiative, how regulation could strengthen U.S. leadership in digital assets and the market impact of President Donald Trump’s trade policies.
The dominant narrative around President Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (“CZ”) is one word: corruption. You can see it in the talking points:
- Rep. Maxine Waters: “The pardon… a blatant example of pay-to-play corruption.”
- Tommy Vietor: “Trump’s crypto company made a multi-billion-dollar deal in partnership with Binance, so Trump gave the founder a pardon.”
- Sen. Ruben Gallego: “It’s corruption on full display.”
From those lines, you’d think Binance and CZ have an active business relationship with the Trumps. They don’t. That claim is unsubstantiated. There are no receipts because there’s no deal to show.
What Actually Happened—and Why People Are Confused
Earlier this year, Binance announced a $2 billion investment from MGX—a landmark deal and the first institutional investment for the world’s largest crypto exchange. I discussed it with CEO Richard Teng at the DC Blockchain Summit in March.
Where the plot gets twisted: MGX’s investment was funded in USD1, a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, Inc. Public reporting indicates the Trump family holds a minority stake in World Liberty Financial via DT Marks DeFi LLC. USD1 is multichain, with deployments on BNB Chain and Ethereum.
What That Does Not Mean
Paying in USD1 does not create a business partnership between Binance/CZ and the Trump family.
A token operating on BNB Chain does not imply a commercial relationship with Binance; BNB Chain is an open blockchain anyone can build on.
The only “receipt” here: DT Marks DeFi LLC → minority interest in WLF → WLF issues USD1 → USD1 exists on BNB Chain/Ethereum → MGX used USD1 in the Binance deal.
That chain of facts doesn’t establish a Trump–Binance/CZ partnership, and it doesn’t prove the pardon was quid-pro-quo. It shows instrumental use of a public-chain stablecoin, not a private business arrangement. By that logic, buying bourbon with U.S. dollars would make you a business partner of the U.S. government—or of Kentucky. If anyone has hard evidence of a direct Trump–CZ/Binance business deal, present it. Until then, this storyline is conjecture dressed up as certainty.
TRUMP PARDONS FORMER BINANCE CEO
Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, speaks at the Delta Summit, Malta’s official Blockchain and Digital Innovation event promoting cryptocurrency, in St Julian’s, Malta October 4, 2018. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi ( REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi / Reuters Photos)
What the Case Against CZ Really Was—and Wasn’t
The record shows:
CZ pleaded to a single, non-fraud Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) count: failure to implement an effective AML (anti-money laundering) program.
The court record does not establish that CZ knowingly facilitated illicit transactions.
Compared to how major banks have been treated for far more serious AML failures (billions in penalties, no comparable senior-executive prison sentences), the outcome here was extraordinary for a first-time offender on a standalone BSA program failure.
The Binance Exchange website on a laptop computer arranged in Dobbs Ferry, New York, U.S., on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021. Bitcoin has been battered by negative comments this week, with long-time skeptic and now Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen saying at (Getty / Getty Images)
You can dislike crypto, CZ, or the pardon. But let’s argue from the record we actually have, not the one some wish existed.
LIVE CRYPTO PRICES: HERE
Why the “Corruption” Frame Is So Convenient
The “pay-for-pardon” accusation does two political jobs at once: it attacks a rival and sustains an anti-crypto narrative. It’s handy if your goal is to stall U.S. crypto policy—just as Congress is finally close to passing market-structure legislation. America should want lawful, transparent, competitive crypto markets to exist here, not overseas. That requires rules, not innuendo.
Let’s Get to the Real Debate
Move policy forward. If the U.S. wants to be the global crypto capital and protect American retail investors, we need clear, compliant pathways for leading crypto companies to operate here—including Binance—under rigorous oversight.
This pardon corrects a disproportionate outcome. CZ is a builder who helped create the world’s largest crypto exchange and, for years, has been treated as a political proxy in a broader fight over digital assets.
We need legislation, not lawfare. And we should stop pretending that using an open blockchain creates a secret partnership—no more than paying a bill in dollars makes you a client of the U.S. Treasury.
BLACKROCK’S BRAGGING RIGHTS FOR FASTEST GROWING ETFS
The path to leadership: legislation, not viral narratives; accountability, not guilt by association. Rules. Clarity. Competitiveness. And an open door to the best builders in the world.
Perianne Boring is an American crypto advocate, investor, and founder. She is the Founder and Chair of The Digital Chamber, the nation’s oldest and largest blockchain trade association; a Partner at Off the Chain Capital; and the executive producer of the documentary God Bless Bitcoin.
