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Crypto Journalist
Anas Hassan
Crypto Journalist
Anas Hassan
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CEO of Binance Richard Teng rejected claims that the exchange boosted a Trump-backed stablecoin to secure a presidential pardon for former leader Changpeng Zhao.
The accusations center on a $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi’s state-owned MGXset up with USD1, a stablecoin created by World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto business.
MGX’s investment is the next listing of Binance USD 1 strengthened the position of the stablecoin market, prompting lawmakers and media reports to suggest that this may have influenced Zhao’s pardon.
Talking to CNBC On Monday, Teng dismissed any preferential treatment, noting that MGX independently decided to use USD1 for the transaction and that other exchanges had already listed the token before Binance.
Corruption Allegations Over Binance-Trump Ties
According to Wall Street JournalBinance not only facilitated MGX’s USD1 settlement, but also helped build stablecoin technology, citing anonymous sources.
World Liberty Financial gained significantly from the Binance listing of USD1 and a partnership with PancakeSwap, an online crypto market linked to the exchange.
Senator Elizabeth Warren accused Binance and the Trump administration of corruption last month.
The vocal crypto critic said Zhao pleaded guilty to criminal money laundering charges, then boosted Trump’s business and lobbied for clemency before the president obliged.
The reviews are long overdue questioned World Liberty Financial’s Open Connections to the White House as It Pursues Overseas Partners and Investors.
According to the platform’s website, DT Marks DEFI LLC and members of the Trump family will receive large shares of revenue and hold WLFI tokens that support the company, which is said to have netted hundreds of millions to billions in profits.
However, the site clarifies that Trump, his relatives and affiliated entities are not officers, directors, founders, or managers of World Liberty Financial.
The USD$2 billion purchase by MGX occurred two weeks before the White House signed a major microchip access agreement with the UAE, raising additional concerns about potential conflicts.
Trump dismisses questions about pardon and family business
During a 60 Minutes interview on Sunday, President Trump has said he doesn’t know who Zhao isdespite having granted the pardon.
When pressed about Zhao’s guilty plea to violating anti-money laundering laws, Trump called “Biden witch hunt” and said it was “too busy” to learn about Binance’s $2 billion deal with his family’s firm.
The president insisted that his sons run their crypto business independently without government involvement.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the pardon in October, saying Zhao was prosecuted without any allegations of fraud or identifiable victims.
Trump has since embraced the crypto sector, proposing new legislation while reversing enforcement actions that targeted exchanges such as Coinbase and Ripple.
Zhao left Binance in 2023 after pleading guilty to enabling money laundering through inadequate anti-money laundering controls.
He served four months in prison before receiving clemency.
Teng said on Monday that the industry felt “thank you very much“for the pardon and Trump’s vision to make America the”global crypto capital.”
Binance Plans US Market Performance
Binance is exploring options to re-enter the US market following Zhao’s forgivenessweighing whether to consolidate its separate US subsidiary into global operations or allow direct US access.
The exchange currently operates Binance.US as a structurally independent entity, capturing less than 1% of the US Bitcoin volume, compared to almost 40% worldwide for its international platform.
Legal experts confirmed that the pardon removes the barriers that had left Zhao from his guilty plea in 2023.
BNB, Binance’s native token, rose 8% after the news of the pardon.
Given the growing dissatisfaction of some regulators, Representative Ro Khanna proposed legislation to ban elected officials from owning or launching cryptocurrencies, calling Zhao’s pardon “blatant corruption.”
Zhao also seems to have had enough of the allegation. Back on October 30, Zhao threatened to sue for defamation against Warren for his criticism.
However, Warren’s attorney later backed off the threatinsisting that his comments about his criminal conviction were factually accurate and supported by public records.
