Just months after receiving a presidential pardon, Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao appeared at Mar-a-Lago last week, placing himself squarely in the Trump family’s crypto orbit.
His appearance at a forum hosted by World Liberty Financial, the Trumps’ cryptocurrency venture, marked his highest-profile US outing since the pardon. In an interview with Bloomberg News, the former chief executive outlined what he sees as opportunities for Binance.US as America reasserts itself as the hub for digital assets.
“We want to do much more business in the US,” Zhao said at US President Donald Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Florida. “We want to bring a superior product into the US. We want to make the superior product offering much more accessible to the US consumerZhao, known as “CZ,” stepped down as chief executive officer of Binance Holdings Ltd. in 2023 after pleading guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program at the global exchange. As part of that resolution, he was allowed to retain his ownership stake.He remains a majority shareholder of Binance.US, a US-based exchange that operates under the Binance brand and has its own management team.
Zhao emphasized that his remarks concerned Binance.US, not the global exchange. “I don’t run Binance,” he said, calling that role “a chapter that’s closed.” He described his expertise as primarily technical, not regulatory.
Zhao lives in the United Arab Emirates with his partner Yi He, who in December was appointed co-chief executive officer of Binance. The two have children together.
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