(CNN) — President Donald Trump has pardoned Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao , who pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge in 2023, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Trump “exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency.”

Leavitt’s statement went on argue that the Biden administration’s sentencing of Zhao was too harsh — a view the president and his top advisers share after Binance’s months-long lobbying campaign for a pardon for Zhao, who goes by CZ.

The pardon, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, could open the door for Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, to operat

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