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Monday Nov 3 2025 09:10
2 min
Former US President Donald Trump has defended his decision to pardon Changpeng Zhao, co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, widely known as "CZ." He refuted criticisms suggesting the pardon was politically motivated, asserting he does not personally know Zhao.
In an interview with CBS News' 60 Minutes, Trump stated, "Okay, are you ready? I don't know who he is," when questioned about the pardon. He reiterated previous claims that he "heard" CZ's case was a "Biden witch hunt."
Trump's remarks regarding the former Binance CEO, who admitted to facilitating money laundering in 2023, follow a series of allegations pointing to potential conflicts of interest stemming from Binance's connections to crypto ventures linked to the Trump family.
Pressed by CBS anchor Norah O'Donnell on reports that Binance facilitated a $2 billion stablecoin purchase tied to Trump-backed World Liberty Financial (WLFI) prior to the pardon, Trump dismissed the implication.
"Well, here's the thing, I know nothing about it because I'm too busy doing the other," the former president stated.
After O'Donnell interrupted, "But he got a pardon," Trump replied:
"Norah, I can only tell you this – my sons are into it. And I'm glad they are, because it's probably a great industry, crypto. I think it's good. You know, they're running a business; they're not in government [...] I'm proud of them, I'm focused on this."
Referring to CZ, Trump said, "I know nothing about the guy, other than I hear he's a victim of weaponization by the government," alluding to what he described as a "corrupt government" under the Biden administration.
Trump concluded, "I only care about one thing," which is that he wants to "make crypto great for America," adding:
"Crypto has turned out to be a massive industry, if you want to call it that. And I'm very proud to say we are far ahead of China and everybody else. And China is getting into it in a very big way right now."
"If you go after people, you're going to kill that industry, and that would be very bad," the former President stated.
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