Binance CEO rejects claims of Trump-linked stablecoin deal for CZ pardon

The head of Binance is pushing back hard against claims that the crypto platform gave special treatment to a digital coin linked to the Trump family to get a presidential pardon for its former boss.

Richard Teng runs the world’s biggest crypto exchange. He went on TV Monday to talk about the whole mess. At the center of it all is a huge $2 billion deal between Binance and MGX, an investment company owned by Abu Dhabi’s government. The catch? The entire thing was done using USD1, a digital currency made by World Liberty Financial, which is run by the Trump family.

When MGX made its investment and Binance added USD1 to its trading platform, it gave the stablecoin a massive boost. Both its usage and reputation shot up. Now, some lawmakers and reporters are asking if these moves had anything to do with President Trump’s decision to pardon Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, who formerly ran Binance.

Teng wasn’t having it when CNBC asked him about it. “First of all, the usage of USD1 [for the] transaction between MGX as a strategic investor into Binance, that was decided by MGX … We didn’t partake in that decision,” he said.

He also pointed out that other exchanges listed USD1 before Binance did. As the biggest crypto platform out there, Binance regularly works with new projects that look promising. “Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn’t. In the case of USD1, I’m glad that both parties worked it out,” he said.

Politicians are getting loud about it

Washington lawmakers have ramped up their scrutiny of CZ’s pardon and how Binance is tied to the Trump family’s crypto business. Senator Elizabeth Warren sits on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and she’s been one of the loudest voices. She’s flat-out accused Binance and the Trump White House of corruption.

Warren put out a statement last month. “First, Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge. Then he boosted one of Donald Trump’s crypto ventures and lobbied for a pardon,” she said, before the President “did his part.” Binance didn’t respond right away when asked about it. CZ stepped down as chief executive back in 2023, but Teng says he’s still the company’s biggest shareholder.

People have been questioning World Liberty Financial’s open connections to the Trump administration for a while now, especially as it goes after new deals and investors overseas.

The company’s website says DT Marks DEFI LLC, a Trump-linked firm, along with Trump family members, gets a big chunk of the platform’s earnings. They also hold digital tokens that back the company, called WLFI. Word is the venture has brought in hundreds of millions, maybe billions, for the Trump family.

But the website also says Trump, his family, or anyone from the Trump Organization or DT Marks DEFI LLC isn’t an officer, director, founder, employee, manager, owner, or operator of World Liberty Financial or any related companies.

The timing looks suspicious

When MGX bought $2 billion worth of USD1 tokens, it raised some eyebrows. A New York Times piece in September noted it happened just two weeks before the White House signed a major agreement with the UAE about access to hundreds of thousands of American microchips.

Zhao had to resign from Binance in 2023 after he admitted to letting money laundering happen through the exchange. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on October 23 that Zhao got prosecuted under the Biden administration “despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims.”

Trump said later that he pardoned Zhao “at the request of a lot of very good people” and claimed he knew nothing about him beforehand.

Since he got back in office, Trump’s been all about cryptocurrency. He’s proposed new crypto laws and rolled back enforcement actions that went after exchanges like Coinbase and Ripple when Biden was in charge.

Monday, Teng said Binance and the crypto industry as a whole “were very thankful” to the president for pardoning CZ and for saying the United States would become the “global crypto capital of the world.”

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