Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has denied a March 13 Wall Street Journal report alleging that he sought a presidential pardon from the Trump administration in exchange for a business deal involving Binance US.
“More than 20 people have told me they were asked by the WSJ (and another media), ‘Can you confirm that CZ made some deal for a pardon?’ They probably asked hundreds of people to have 20 reach out to me,” he wrote.
CZ said he was aware that the Wall Street Journal had contacted multiple people about the alleged pardon request, suggesting that the publication was attempting to construct a narrative.
Despite the allegations, CZ stated his ongoing commitment to Binance’s global crypto initiatives.
“Feels like the article is motivated as an attack on the President and crypto,” he stated, implying that the report was driven by lingering regulatory opposition to the sector. “And the residual forces of the ‘war on crypto’ from the last administration are still at work.”
Citing anonymous sources, the article claimed that as part of a larger strategy to reenter the U.S. market, Binance had contacted Trump supporters with a business proposal involving Binance US.
According to the Wall Street Journal article, CZ urged the Trump administration to grant him a pardon after entering a guilty plea in 2023.
Meanwhile, more people in the crypto sector are wary of traditional media, wondering if their coverage of regulatory issues is objective or biased.
Some contend that rather than reflecting industry realities, coverage frequently presents events in a way that fits with larger political or financial narratives.
The report claims that after Binance’s legal issues worsened, executives started talking about a possible deal while trying to navigate regulatory barriers.