Key Takeaways
- President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon Binance founder CZ has drawn condemnation from both Democrats and some Republicans.
- Prominent tech figures, including Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, criticized the move as politically damaging.
- Although the pardon cannot be revoked, it is expected to intensify debate in Congress over crypto regulation.
Senate Democrats and the wider crypto industry are speaking out against President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the founder of the crypto exchange Binance.
Trump’s CZ Pardon Fallout
In April 2024, CZ was sentenced to four months in prison for money-laundering violations, completing his term in September 2025.
Trump’s pardon, first reported by The Washington Post, has cleared the way for Binance to operate again in the U.S. after more than a year of lobbying from the company and the White House.
Democrats are framing the pardon as a case of political favoritism and potential corruption.
Senator Elizabeth Warren condemned the decision and urged Congress to strengthen guardrails on presidential pardon powers for financial crimes.
“First CZ pleaded guilty to a criminal money-laundering charge and then he boosted one of Trump’s crypto ventures and lobbied for a pardon,” Warren said in a statement.
“Today, Donald Trump did his part and pardoned him,” she continued. “If Congress does not stop this kind of corruption in pending market structure legislation, it owns this lawlessness.”
Meanwhile, unease is rising in Trump’s own party. Republican Senator Thom Tillis told Semafor that the move sent a “bad signal.”
“[It] opens up the aperture for future pardons — and maybe the calculus for people making questionable decisions, saying, ‘Well, I may have a shot here.’ I don’t think it’s a good policy for a free-market economy,” he said.
Widespread Backlash
The pardon has rippled through the technology and financial sectors.
Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, a vocal Trump supporter, posted on X that while he “loves President Trump” and sees his administration as “possibly the greatest of [his] lifetime,” these pardons were “hit-by-pitches.”
He claimed that the president “has been terribly advised on this” and that it “makes it look like massive fraud is happening around him in this area.”
Speaking to The New York Times, Cornell University economics professor Eswar Prasad said the Trump administration had been engaged in a “brazen flouting of the rule of law.”
“There is little justification for this pardon and it highlights how far this administration will go to promote the cryptocurrency industry,” Prasad said.
CZ Fires Back
CZ has responded publicly to criticism from lawmakers, pushing back against Senator Warren’s comments about his conviction.
In a post on X, Zhao said, “A U.S. Senator can’t get her facts right, in a public post about a person’s charge. There were NO money laundering charges.”
He added that the same senator had “declared ‘war on crypto’ on public TV, five days before my sentencing, during the Biden Admin.”
The Binance founder called it an example of the “weaponization of Biden’s DOJ against crypto.”
His post also amplified remarks from former SEC official Teresa Goody Guillén, who argued Zhao’s conviction involved “no fraud, no victims, [and] no criminal history.”
Guillén said Zhao was the only first-time offender in U.S. history to receive a prison sentence for such a charge.
What Happens Next?
Despite damaging the relationship between U.S. politics and the crypto industry, it is unlikely CZ’s pardon could be reversed.
Under the U.S. Constitution, once a presidential pardon has been granted, neither Congress, the courts, or a subsequent president can revoke it.
However, the future regulatory consequences on the future of the U.S. government may be significant.
Lawmakers could very well push for new limits on presidential pardon powers, especially in cases involving financial conflicts of interest. These discussions have been rife over the past year as senators shared concerns about Trump family’s crypto ventures.
Also, while the pardon clears Zhao’s federal record, it does not shield him or Binance from state-level investigations or civil actions, which remain outside presidential reach.
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Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
