At 9am today, five Wall Street Journal journalists published a claim that Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) is seeking a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. Their reporting acknowledges CZ’s completion of a four-month prison sentence and claims that unnamed sources familiar with the matter believe CZ has pushed forward with his request despite already serving a sentence.
Although the reporters do not speculate on other misdeeds, a US president has the sole authority to preemptively pardon for crimes for which an individual does not yet have a conviction. Per Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the US Constitution and Supreme Court precedent in Ex parte Garland (1867), the president wields “unlimited” pardoning power applicable to “every offence known to the law,” even “before legal proceedings are taken.”
In addition, Wall Street Journal reporters claim that Binance wants the Trump family or one of its entities, like World Liberty Financial, to invest in Binance. As part of their negotiations, Binance has expressed willingness to move substantial operations into the US.
Read more: Binance founder CZ made over $25 million per day while in prison, report
Within the first hour of the article’s publication, neither CZ nor Binance leaders Yi He or Richard Teng have responded publicly to the rumor of the pardon request.
Onshoring the world’s largest crypto exchange to the US?
Trump has been a vocal advocate for foreign companies relocating offices, plants, and personnel into the US. He has implemented many tariffs on foreign-operated companies and has made onshoring a cornerstone of his administration’s trade policies.
Interestingly, the US government already holds approximately $33 million worth of Binance Chain (BNB) coins. Per a recent Executive Order signed by Trump, those coins may now be part of a newly-formed US Digital Asset Stockpile.
Yesterday, Binance announced crypto’s $2 billion equity investment from Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund MGX. Founder CZ boasted that it was the largest crypto-denominated equity investment in history.
