Binance founder Changpeng Zhao confirmed in an Oct. 23 post on X that he has received a pardon from US President Donald Trump.
He said:
“Deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice. Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto and advance web3 worldwide.”
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson congratulated Zhao on the milestone, saying the US President has corrected a grave injustice from the previous administration’s war against crypto.
Hoskinson wrote:
“The weaponization of the justice department against our industry and its entrepreneurs should have never happened. It was and still is a deep wound that will take a long time to heal.”
According to CryptoSlate’s data, the news helped boost BNB’s price by 5.38% to $1,132 as of press time. The digital asset is 17% below its all-time high of $1,370.
Meanwhile, this news followed nearly a year of quiet lobbying from Zhao’s legal team.
In May, he acknowledged that his attorneys had petitioned the US government for clemency. Traditional outlets later speculated that the effort might involve private financial links between Trump-affiliated entities and Binance or a cooperation deal targeting other crypto executives, such as Tron founder Justin Sun.
Zhao publicly rejected those claims, labeling them politically charged and “without factual basis.”
Zhao resigned from Binance in November 2023 after pleading guilty to a US money-laundering charge. He served a four-month sentence and completed it in September 2024.
Since his release, he has said he will not return to the exchange but instead focus on new ventures in blockchain research, AI investments, and his education nonprofit, Giggle Academy.
Insider trading?
Meanwhile, the news surrounding Zhao’s release has spilled into the trading arena.
On prediction market Polymarket, crypto trader Garrett Jin reportedly wagered that Trump would pardon Zhao this year.
With the news now spreading, that single bet has turned a modest stake into roughly $56,000 in gains, according to blockchain analysis platform Arkham Intelligence.
Jin was already known in crypto circles for timing major market moves with uncanny precision. Earlier this month, he opened large short positions on Bitcoin and Ethereum on Hyperliquid, moments before Trump announced sweeping 100 percent tariffs on Chinese imports.
Those leveraged trades, worth more than $700 million, yielded profits estimated between $160 million and $200 million as prices collapsed in the hours following the announcement.
The repetition of such well-timed bets, first ahead of a presidential tariff post and now preceding a reported pardon, has reignited long-standing suspicions of insider access within the presidency.
However, Jin has firmly denied any Trump-family connection.
Still, the two coincidences illustrate a growing reality in crypto that every policy move from Washington now carries market consequences that unfold in seconds.