Binance Founder CZ Says He Requested a Pardon from President Trump
After a four-month prison stay last year, Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao admitted that he is seeking a pardon from President Trump.

By Logan Hitchcock
May 10, 2025
2 min read

Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao Photo: Rug Radio
In Summary
Zhao initiated the legal process to request a pardon from Trump after serving his sentence for money laundering.
He denied offering his stake in Binance.US in exchange for the presidential pardon.
He admitted that fake news motivated him to officially submit the request two weeks ago.
After serving his four-month sentence for money laundering charges last year, Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao recently stated that he has begun the process of requesting a pardon from President Trump.
In an exclusive interview with Farokh Sarmad of Rug Radio, the sister company of Decrypt, Zhao denied false reports about his pleas for a pardon, rejecting claims that he was trying to relinquish his stake in Binance.US in exchange for a pardon.
"There are many news articles saying that I'm trying to exchange my stake in Binance.US for a pardon," Zhao said. "That is not true at all. I have not had any discussions about the stake in Binance.US with anyone."
