US President Donald Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) is considered a remarkable development for both the crypto industry and the political balance of power in Washington.
Zhao, who was serving a prison sentence just a year ago for providing access to money launderers, has now been released following a pardon from the White House.
The pardon is attributed to the Trump administration’s friendly approach to the crypto industry and the power of its influential lobbying networks in Washington. The incident has led to comments that “anything is possible in Trump’s Washington for those with the right connections.”
“I don’t think I know him, but I’ve heard many people say he was unfairly prosecuted. They said he was persecuted by the Biden administration, and at the request of many good people, I pardoned him,” Trump said Thursday.
Behind the scenes of the pardon is lobbyist Ches McDowell, a close friend of Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr. His North Carolina-based firm, Checkmate Government Relations, became one of the most influential lobbying firms in Washington during Trump’s second term. McDowell was notably seen at the same White House event with Trump and Trump Jr. last week.
Binance hired McDowell in late September to lobby the Treasury Department and the White House on “financial policy and executive clemency.” The firm paid Checkmate $450,000 for this brief stint.
Efforts to pardon Zhao date back months. Three weeks after Trump’s inauguration, Binance and Zhao added Teresa Goody Guillén, a lawyer who has been linked to the SEC as a potential candidate, to their team. Guillén’s office reported a total of $290,000 in earnings from Binance and Zhao through 2025.
“On behalf of my client, Mr. Zhao, we offer our deep gratitude to President Donald J. Trump for the courage and moral clarity that made this day possible,” Guillén said in a post on his X account after the pardon.
Beyond the pardon, Zhao and Binance have also strengthened their ties to the White House by establishing business ties with the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial.
Binance’s lobbying efforts in Washington have paralleled the company’s legal process. Binance.US hired its first lobbyist at the end of 2021 and spent more than $1 million in 2022 and $1.2 million in the first nine months of 2023. However, after Zhao pleaded guilty and the company paid a $4 billion fine, the lobbying efforts ceased completely at the end of 2023.
With Trump’s re-instatement, Binance’s lobbying efforts have been revitalized. The company has reported $860,000 in lobbying expenses so far in 2025. Binance CEO Richard Teng also joined the advisory board of The Digital Chamber, a leading US cryptocurrency trading association, in July.
“With President Trump and his administration strongly supporting the crypto industry, the future looks bright,” Teng said in a post at the beginning of the year.
*This is not investment advice.
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