President Donald Trump has said he does not know who crypto tycoon Changpeng Zhao is, despite pardoning him last month.
Trump said he did not know the billionaire, also known as “CZ,” in response to a question in an interview with Norah O’Donnell, host of CBS News’ program 60 Minutes.
O’Donnell asked the president why he pardoned Zhao even though he was deemed to have caused “significant harm to US national security” by government prosecutors.
“Okay, are you ready? I don't know who he is,” he said, noting that he did not recall ever meeting the businessman.
Zhao, who is considered one of the most influential figures in the crypto industry, pleaded guilty in 2023 to enabling money laundering and stepped down as the chief executive of Binance, which he co-founded, as part of a $4.3 billion settlement with the Justice Department.
Deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice.
undefined CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 23, 2025
🙏🙏🙏🙏
Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto and advance web3 worldwide.
(Still in flight, more posts to come.)…
He was pardoned after Binance, which remains the world’s largest crypto trading platform, backed World Liberty Financial, a crypto company run by Trump’s family.
However, Trump said he pardoned Zhao, who served four months in prison, because he was told the businessman was part of the “witch hunt” by the administration of former US President Joe Biden.
“I have no idea who he is. I was told that he was a victim, just like I was and just like many other people, of a vicious, horrible group of people in the Biden administration,” Trump told 60 Minutes.
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At the time of his pardon, the White House said that Zhao was prosecuted by the Biden administration “in its war on cryptocurrency.” Trump positions himself as a crypto-friendly president, comparing the industry’s potential to artificial intelligence (AI).
“If we don't do it, it's gonna go to China, it's gonna go to… this is no different to me than AI,” Trump said, adding that his sons are involved in crypto much more than he is.
“I know very little about it, other than one thing. It's a huge industry. And if we're not gonna be the head of it, China, Japan, or someplace else is. So I am behind it 100%,” he said.
In January, shortly after taking office, Trump also pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the darknet marketplace Silk Road. The following month, the Trump administration also halted a fraud case against crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun after he invested in the Trump family’s firm, World Liberty Financial.
Then, in March, he pardoned the founders of crypto exchange BitMEX, who were convicted for money laundering.
In October, Heather Morgan, the wife of Bitfinex hacker Ilya Lichtenstein, also had her sentence shortened and thanked “papa Trump” for that. The White House denied it had anything to do with her release.
There’s a campaign calling on Trump to also pardon Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of FTX crypto exchange.
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