- Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao sparks bipartisan outrage and accuses the administration of cronyism and “patronage pardoning.”
- Republicans, MAGA backers, and ethics critics warn the pardon undermines “drain the swamp” promises and risks political blowback.
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has ignited a firestorm of criticism—not just from Democrats, but from within his own MAGA base and republican party.
The move, announced by the White House on Thursday, October 23, 2025, comes just months into Trump’s second term and highlights the growing tensions between his pro-crypto agenda and the loyalty tests it’s imposing on supporters who once cheered his every move.
Zhao, a Chinese-born Canadian known as “CZ” in tech circles, pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act, admitting that his platform facilitated money laundering for drug dealers, terrorists, and even child sex abusers.
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He served just four months in prison before his release in September 2024 and has since been aggressively lobbying the Trump administration for clemency.
Binance itself has been banned from U.S. operations since 2023 as part of a $4.3 billion settlement with federal authorities.
Trump, speaking at a White House roundtable on Thursday, downplayed any personal connection, saying, “I don’t believe I’ve ever met him, but he had a lot of support, and they said that what he did is not even a crime, that he was persecuted by the Biden administration.”
He later snapped at a reporter pressing him on the details: “You don’t know much about crypto. You know nothing about nothing.”
The White House Backs Trump
The White House framed the pardon as a strike against the Biden-era “war on crypto,” with press secretary Karoline Leavitt telling reporters, “In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims.
The Biden administration’s war on crypto is over.”
A Binance spokesperson hailed it as “incredible news,” crediting Trump’s “leadership and commitment to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the world.”
But beneath the boosterism lies a web of financial ties that have fueled accusations of cronyism.
Months earlier, Binance struck a deal with World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto venture, which reportedly added over $5 billion in paper wealth to the family’s holdings.
An Emirati-backed firm even funneled a $2 billion investment through World Liberty’s stablecoin into Binance, a windfall that coincided with Zhao’s pardon push.
Zhao himself denied any quid pro quo on X, posting, “Fact: I have had no discussions of a Binance US deal with … well, anyone. No felon would mind a pardon, especially being the only one in U.S. history who was ever sentenced to prison for a single Bank Secrecy Act charge.”
What makes this pardon sting for many in Trump’s orbit isn’t just the optics—it’s the betrayal of the “drain the swamp” ethos that defined his rise.
And the Republican party is pissed.
GOP Members and Republican Circles Call Foul
Joe Lonsdale, the billionaire Palantir co-founder and one of Trump’s most vocal tech backers, didn’t hold back in a post to his 240,000 X followers, stating, “I love President Trump; this is possibly the greatest admin of my lifetime—except for these pardons.
If I’m calling balls and strikes, these are hit-by-pitches! POTUS has been terribly advised on this; it makes it look like massive fraud is happening around him in this area.”
Lonsdale’s frustration echoes a broader unease among crypto enthusiasts and MAGA hardliners who see the Zhao clemency as a step too far, especially after Trump’s earlier pardons of figures like Ross Ulbricht, the Silk Road founder serving life for narcotics trafficking via crypto.
Far-rightwing extremist Laura Loomer, whose influence on Trump is no secret, piled on earlier this month when pardon rumors first surfaced.
“Another terrible pardon idea that I’m sure someone is getting paid a lot of money to push. It’s like people are just trying to set the admin up at this point,” she wrote on X.
Even GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, no stranger to clashes with Trump, told Politico bluntly, “I don’t like it. He was convicted. He’s not innocent.”
Tillis warned it sends a “bad signal,” particularly as the administration pushes for lighter crypto regulations.
Democrats, predictably, pounced.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren issued a scorching statement, stating, “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.
Today, Donald Trump did his part and pardoned him. If Congress does not stop this kind of corruption in pending market structure legislation, it owns this lawlessness.”
Sens. Jeff Merkley and Warren have already called for ethics probes, arguing the pardon exemplifies how Trump’s family business dealings are blurring lines between public policy and private profit.
This isn’t just a Republican party issue; it’s another bipartisan stance on the administration’s actions and decisions.
Trump’s History of Pardon’s is Now Under Scope
This isn’t Trump’s first brush with pardon controversy in his second term—far from it.
Back on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2025, he issued a sweeping blanket pardon for nearly 1,600 people charged in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, commuting sentences for 14 Oath Keepers and Proud Boys members convicted of seditious conspiracy while granting full clemency to the rest.
The proclamation called the prosecutions a “grave national injustice,” framing them as the start of “national reconciliation.”
Legal experts like former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade warned it could “embolden people to engage in political violence,” signaling to extremists that crimes in Trump’s name come with impunity.
By May, the pardons had snowballed into what critics dubbed a “MAGA amnesty.”
Trump cleared reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley of tax evasion and bank fraud convictions—after their daughter Savannah spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
He also pardoned former Virginia sheriff Scott Jenkins, convicted of bribery for selling deputy badges to donors, prompting Trump’s pardon attorney Ed Martin to tweet triumphantly, “No MAGA left behind.”
That same month, Trump extended clemency to Larry Hoover, the Gangster Disciples co-founder serving life for murder and extortion, as well as rapper NBA YoungBoy, convicted in a gun case.
And in a twist of political revenge, he fully pardoned Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, after Archer went “full MAGA” and trashed the Bidens in public.
Archer, convicted of defrauding investors out of tens of millions, gushed post-pardon: “I’m full MAGA now.”
Even if you’re not in crypto, it affects you
Crypto has been a recurring theme. In March, Trump pardoned the three BitMEX co-founders for Bank Secrecy Act violations, and his Ulbricht pardon on day one thrilled libertarians but drew eye-rolls from those wary of glorifying dark-web drug lords.
Even a potential pardon for FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, Zhao’s old rival, is reportedly in the works, per The New York Times.
But unlike those, the Zhao decision has cracked the MAGA facade, reminding observers of a brief rift earlier this year over the Jeffrey Epstein files, when Trump allies briefly turned on each other before a Wall Street Journal report refocused ire on the “deep state.”
NPR’s Carrie Johnson noted in June that Trump has “taken this to a whole new level,” doling out clemency based on “how strongly these people support him, whether it’s financially or just being a strong MAGA voice.”
The New York Times called it “patronage pardoning,” a tool to “reduce the expected penalty for loyalist misconduct.”
Vanity Fair’s take was blunter: It “makes a mockery of the idea that we are a nation of laws, not men,” as Sen. Adam Schiff put it.
As Trump eyes more crypto wins—like potential clemency for Nikola’s fraud-convicted founder or Ozy Media’s exec—the Zhao backlash serves as a cautionary tale.
Steve Bannon, ever the strategist, might see a path to rally the base, but for now, the grumbling from Lonsdale and Loomer underscores a simple truth: Even in MAGA world, not every billionaire gets a blank check.
With midterm elections looming and ethics watchdogs circling, this pardon could linger longer than the headlines.
Will the Republican party continue to raise concerns about the administration? And perhaps Democrats and the Republican party have more in common than they are being led to believe.
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