After stepping down in 2023 as part of a deal with US officials that later sent him to prison, Changpeng Zhao said he had “no plans to return to the CEO position” at Binance.
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Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are speculating that former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is closer to receiving a pardon from US President Donald Trump after a change to his social media profile.
The odds of Zhao receiving a pardon from Trump on the prediction platform Polymarket increased to an all-time high of 64% on Saturday, but they have since dropped to 45% at the time of publication.
Several users on Wednesday that Zhao had removed the “ex-@binance” tag — which he had added in 2023 after stepping down as CEO under a US plea deal — suggesting he may no longer be distancing himself from the exchange he founded in 2017.
A presidential pardon could potentially allow CZ to resume a managing or operating role at Binance — something the exchange as part of the deal with US officials.
After stepping down in November 2023, Zhao “no plans to return to the CEO position.” However, in May, having directed his lawyers to apply for a pardon from Trump.
Trump has for Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, and BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed.
Cointelegraph reached out to a Binance spokesperson for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
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Zhao in 2024 after pleading guilty to a money laundering charge for his failure to maintain an effective Anti-Money Laundering program while at Binance.
The exchange agreed to pay $4.3 billion as part of the deal with US officials, and Richard Teng has served as CEO since Zhao’s departure.
In addition to the monetary penalties, Binance’s global operations are subject to three years of compliance monitoring. However, some US lawmakers have raised concerns about reports of meetings between Binance executives and Treasury Department officials, questioning whether they might be seeking to alter the 2023 agreement.
“Since May, President Trump and his family have increased their financial ties to Binance through their company, World Liberty Financial, and just this week, news broke that Binance may be ‘moving toward a potential deal with the US Justice Department that would allow it to drop’ its outside compliance monitor—a ‘key oversight requirement in its $4.3 billion settlement’ with the federal government,” three Democratic senators in a Wednesday letter to US Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, who signed onto the Wednesday letter, also concerns about Zhao’s alleged “financial entanglements with the President’s family” amid reports of a pardon in May. Trump had not publicly commented on any deal as of Thursday.
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