On October 23, US President Donald Trump announced a pardon for Changpeng Zhao (CZ), founder of CZ, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. CZ pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating US anti-money laundering regulations, including failing to stop illicit transactions on the Binance platform, such as sanctions evasion and terrorist financing. He was sentenced to four months in prison and released in September 2025. In his pardon statement, Trump said, "Many people have told me that what CZ did wasn't a crime at all," and emphasized that this move was to make the US the "crypto capital."
However, this decision immediately triggered a strong backlash from the Democratic Party. Senator Elizabeth Warren publicly questioned that CZ might have secured the unprecedentedly swift presidential pardon by channeling benefits to the Trump family. Moreover, just five days later, on October 28, seven Democratic senators, including Warren, jointly sent an open letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice (DOJ), with a copy to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, demanding that the government formally explain the decision-making process behind Trump's pardon of CZ.
Democrats have directly accused the pardon of being "corrupt."
The letter states that Binance strongly supported World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a decentralized finance platform launched by the Trump family at the end of last year, including providing technology development and an investment of up to $2 billion, which reportedly brought millions of dollars in revenue to the Trump family.
Senators questioned, "Isn't it a classic case of abusing power to immediately pardon CZ's confession after his company made the Trump family incredibly wealthy?" The letter further criticized Trump's pardon, stating that it "sends a dangerous signal to cryptocurrency executives and white-collar criminals: as long as you have money to enrich the president, you can get away with it." The senators warned that this not only encourages crime but also severely undermines years of federal law enforcement efforts to combat cryptocurrency money laundering.
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In response, seven senators made a clear demand, requiring the Department of Justice and Bondi to answer the following questions:
- Does the pardon affect CZ's parole conditions? In particular, is he still prohibited from taking over Binance or handling user funds again?
- Does the financial relationship between Trump and CZ constitute a conflict of interest and influence the pardon decision?
- What impact will this amnesty have on future investigations into crimes in the crypto industry?
The lawmakers emphasized that failure to thoroughly investigate the case would severely damage the credibility of the U.S. justice system.
