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.

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

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