According to a Wall Street Journal report, President Trump's family is weighing their investments in Binance.us. The investment will come years after Binance's US division pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering regulations.
As part of that guilty plea, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, paid a $4.3 billion fine in 2023 and spent four months in prison.
According to Forbes rankings, Zao is currently the 24th wealthiest person in the world. The WSJ claims he is seeking pardon from the Trump administration.
Zhao's conviction has made it difficult for Binance to find a commercial partner in the US or apply for a cryptographic license in Europe. “We're… well, we're not arguing about contracting with anyone,” Zhao said in a post about X, rebutting the WSJ report.
But if there is a discussion between Vinance and the Trump family representative in practice, it seems to be summarised in a simple question: What is the value of a presidential pardon?