US President Donald Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge in 2023, the White House said overnight.

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 argued 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 operate in the US once again.

Trump, a fo

See Full Page