Representatives of President Trump’s family have held talks to take a financial stake in the U.S. arm of crypto exchange Binance, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that would put Trump in business with the firm that pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating anti-money-laundering requirements, The Wall Street Journal reported.
At the same time, Binance’s billioniare founder, Changpeng Zhao — who served four months in prison after pleading guilty to a related charge —has been pushing for the Trump administration to grant him a pardon, people familiar with the matter said. Zhao, widely known as CZ, remains Binance’s largest shareholder.
It is unclear what form the Trump family stake would take if the deal comes together or whether it would be contingent on a pardon. The possibilities include the Trumps taking the stake or the deal going through World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture backed up by the Trumps that launched in September, the people said.
Trump has increasingly blurred the boundaries between presidency and his business ventures. His family has been profiting from his election victory, with first lady Melania Trump signing a $40 million documentary deal and Trump seeking tens of millions in financial settlements from companies he had sued years earlier, much of which has gone to fund his presidential library.
CNBC reported: The CEO of crypto exchange Binance said he expects U.S. President Trump’s “pro-crypto” legislation in the U.S. to spur regulators in other parts of the world to follow suit.
“We have moved from a period where there’s big regulatory uncertainty and in many sense, some regulatory hostility towards the industry, to one where the largest economy of the world said ‘we want to embrace crypto,” Binance CEO Richard Teng told CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal at CONVERGENCE LIVE in Singapore on Thursday.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that in addition to Bitcoin, the strategic reserve would include ether, XRP, Solana’s SOL token, and Cardano’s ADA coin.
Bitcoin prices have fallen since Trump’s announcement of a strategic crypto reserve as details of the plan fell short of expectations. Investor enthusiasm toward assets perceived to be risky has also softened more broadly due to concerns over the impact of Trump’s tariff plans.
RollingStone reported: According to a Thursday report from the Wall Street Journal, World Liberty Financial (WLF), the Trump family’s fledgling crypto venture, has explored taking a financial stake in the disgraced cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
The Trump family has been cashing in at every opportunity since the president’s election win in November. Where his first term was riddled with notable transactions to his hotels and resorts, this time around the Trump’s are practically flaunting every new business venture that leverages their White House connections.