CZ says US crypto rivals lobbied against his pardon

Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao said in interviews this year that rival US crypto exchanges lobbied against efforts to secure a presidential pardon following his four-month prison sentence in 2024 for violations of US anti-money-laundering rules.

Zhao told a podcast host he believed competitors opposed a pardon because they feared Binance might return to the US market after it stopped offering services to American users in November 2023. He added he had no concrete proof but was “pretty confident there was push back.” He also stated, ‘The other crypto exchanges in the U.S. don’t want me to get a pardon.’

The legal matters date to 2023, when Binance reached a $4.3 billion settlement with US authorities. The settlement addressed alleged breaches of the Bank Secrecy Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and failures to register as a money-transmitting business. The agreement led Binance to restructure parts of its global operations and withdraw from direct service to US customers.

Changpeng Zhao completed his four-month sentence in September 2024. President Donald Trump granted a pardon in October 2025. In a November 2025 television interview, Trump said he had ‘no idea who he is’ but had been told Zhao was a victim of a ‘witch hunt’ by the previous administration.

Binance’s separate US entity, Binance.US, resumed services for eligible American users in February 2025, before the pardon. In March 2025 a federal court in Alabama granted a motion to dismiss a 2024 complaint that had accused Binance, Binance.US and Zhao of facilitating transfers to terrorist groups.

Zhao also discussed his long-term view for the technology. In April he said he hopes cryptocurrencies and blockchain will become an unseen part of everyday infrastructure by 2031, similar to how people no longer discuss internet protocols: ‘I’m hoping that we don’t talk about crypto as crypto in five years.’

Zhao acknowledged uncertainty about the extent and form of any lobbying, saying he did not have concrete evidence while maintaining his belief that pushback occurred.