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Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao allegedly supported crypto projects tied to the Trump family while privately seeking a presidential pardon, according to a July 11 Bloomberg News report.
The report claimed that Binance wrote the foundational smart contract code for USD1, a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, a company affiliated with President Donald Trump.
Three people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Binance’s involvement enabled USD1 to be used in a $2 billion investment in Binance made by UAE-based MGX.
Blockchain data reviewed by Bloomberg showed that approximately 90% of USD1’s $2 billion total supply is held in Binance wallets. The token’s prospectus indicates the Trump family could receive around $30 million annually from interest earned on reserves backing the stablecoin.
A Binance spokesperson told Bloomberg the USD1 listing followed its “standard process,” emphasizing that Zhao’s pardon application is “a personal one” and unrelated to company activities.
Zhao, who pleaded guilty in 2023 to anti-money-laundering violations and spent time in a California halfway house, confirmed his pardon request during a Farokh Radio podcast interview.
World Liberty denied the allegations, calling them “factually deficient and designed to further a political agenda.” Zhao has also denied the allegations levied by previous reporting by the Wall Street Journal.
Ethics experts raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Richard Painter, former chief ethics counsel under President George W. Bush, said, “We have never had this since the Civil War: a president whose personal financial interests conflicted with his official duties.”
The Trump administration maintains that the President has no conflicts, citing a trust structure overseen by Donald Trump Jr. An ethics agreement released before Trump’s presidency stated he receives only general business updates.
Bloomberg reported that crypto initiatives tied to Trump have added at least $620 million to his fortune in recent months. Two sources said Zhao met World Liberty co-founder and Trump ally Steve Witkoff at a Bitcoin conference in Abu Dhabi in December 2024, although a person close to Witkoff denied the meeting took place.
Witkoff, now Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, plans to transfer his World Liberty Financial interests to his adult sons, according to White House counsel David Warrington.
By mid-March, Binance and World Liberty were reportedly discussing a new stablecoin, and weeks later, World Liberty announced plans to issue a token on BNB Smart Chain. Around the same time, the Wall Street Journal reported that Zhao was requesting a pardon from Trump.
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