Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, attends the Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong on August 29, 2025. Tyrone Siu/Reuters New York —

Changpeng Zhao, one of the wealthiest and most influential figures in the cryptocurrency industry, is back in the spotlight this week after securing a pardon from President Donald Trump — a reprieve that renews concerns that those with deep pockets have been able to buy their way out of trouble under Trump 2.0.

It is hard to overstate how much Zhao, who goes by “CZ,” has shaped the crypto industry since he launched Binance in 2017 and grew it into the world’s largest trading platform for digital assets.

Put simply: If you want to take, say, $100 from your bank account and use it to buy or sell cryptocurrencies virtually anywhere in

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