Congresswoman Maxine Waters calls Trump’s pardon of CZ outrageous
Democrat Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, slammed Trump’s pardon of Binance founder CZ as outrageous.
In her statement, Waters called CZ a crypto criminal and accused Trump of allowing crime for personal gain. She emphasized that the move came amid the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, when federal workers go without pay and health care costs continue to rise. According to Waters, Trump refuses to negotiate with Democrats and is engaged in corruption for personal interest.
Let’s be clear about why this happened. CZ has spent months lobbying Trump and his family while funneling billions into Trump’s personal crypto company, World Liberty Financial, Waters wrote, adding “The pardon was the payoff and a blatant example of the kind of pay-to-play corruption that Trump and his Administration continue to engage in.
Zhao, founder of the largest crypto exchange Binance, pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating U.S. anti-money-laundering laws and served four months in prison. He received a full presidential pardon on October 23. Binance paid $4.3 billion in penalties in the related U.S. case. Waters noted that his pardon follows the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision in June 2025 to dismiss a class action against CZ and Binance for securities fraud.
CZ’s pardon has sparked widespread debate. Senator Elizabeth Warren also commented, linking it to Binance’s financing of Trump’s stablecoin, USD1. CZ and his lawyer, Teresa Goody Guillén, pushed back against the criticism, saying the judge found no evidence of money laundering charges.
According to the Binance founder, his case was a clear example of a “war on crypto” policy by the Biden administration. Guillén added that the only charge CZ faced related to having an effective compliance program; the lawsuit included no fraud, no victims, and no criminal history.
Social media reactions to CZ’s pardon have been sharply divided. Critics raised concerns about ties between Binance and Trump’s crypto projects. WLFI, the native cryptocurrency of World Liberty Financial, a Trump-family-backed crypto firm, jumped 12% after the news and was one of the largest gainers in the last 24 hours.
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