Simply put
- President Trump granted a pardon to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao on Thursday.
- This led to a rise in digital currencies associated with both the president and Zhao.
- Before his pardon, Zhao had supported a cryptocurrency project linked to Trump.
Digital assets tied to Binance and President Donald Trump surged on Thursday after the news that Trump pardoned Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the former CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange.
According to CoinGecko, Binance’s BNB token saw a notable increase of about 4.7%, trading around $1,115, which made it one of the top-performing cryptocurrencies for the day. Earlier, it reached $1,149.
The World Liberty Financial asset—WLFI—also experienced growth. This Trump- and Binance-backed asset, operating on the Ethereum network, rose over 15.2% since the previous day, reaching above $0.14.
The meme coin linked to Zhao’s posts as an argument for why cryptocurrencies will succeed jumped by 32% to surpass $0.11.
This token is set to run on Binance’s BNB chain, enabling developers to create new assets and applications.
The White House confirmed on Thursday that President Trump has officially pardoned Zhao.
Zhao had pleaded guilty to money laundering violations in 2023 and served four months in prison in 2024.
U.S. authorities have alleged for years that Zhao permitted users engaged in cryptocurrency theft and terrorism to utilize the exchange.
“I’m really thankful to President Trump for today’s pardon and for endorsing America’s drive toward equity, innovation, and justice,” Zhao stated in a post on X.
We are deeply grateful to President Trump for today’s pardon and for supporting America’s commitment to equity, innovation, and justice.
🙏🙏🙏🙏We are committed to making America the cryptocurrency capital and advancing Web3 around the world.
(I will post more as it is still in flight.)…
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance)
Binance is associated with the Trump-backed World Liberty Financial Project, where its USD1 stablecoin is supported by BNB. There’s also a $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund MGX to Binance using tokens.
The market rally included a recovery of ground lost in recent weeks. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, has seen an increase of nearly 2%, while Ethereum, the second-largest, gained 1.3% recently.
Cryptocurrencies and other risk assets have faced challenges as investors remain concerned about the U.S. global trade war and various macroeconomic uncertainties.
