Representatives of President Trump’s family have held talks to take a financial stake in the U.S. arm of crypto exchange Binance, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that would put Trump in business with the firm that pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating anti-money-laundering requirements. 

BNB surged above $600, with a 24-hour gain of 7.11%.

At the same time, Binance’s billionaire founder, Changpeng Zhao—who served four months in prison after pleading guilty to a related charge—has been pushing for the Trump administration to grant him a pardon, people familiar with the matter said. Zhao, widely known as CZ, remains Binance’s largest shareholder. 

The talks began after Binance reached out to allies of Trump last year offering to strike a business deal with the family as part of a plan to return the exiled company to the U.S. 

It is unclear what form the Trump family stake would take if the deal comes together or whether it would be contingent on a pardon. The possibilities include the Trumps taking the stake or the deal going through World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture backed by the Trumps that launched in September, the people said. 

Steve Witkoff, a longtime friend of Trump’s who is now his top negotiator in the Middle East and for the war in Ukraine, has been involved in the talks for a deal, some of the people familiar with the matter said. 

An administration official denied Witkoff’s involvement and said he is in the process of divesting from his business interests.

Zhao leaving the courthouse after pleading guilty in Seattle in 2023. Photo: M. Scott Brauer for WSJ

Trump has increasingly blurred the boundaries between the presidency and his business ventures. His family has been profiting from his election victory, with first lady Melania Trump signing a $40 million documentary deal and Trump seeking tens of millions in financial settlements from companies he had sued years earlier, much of which has gone to fund his presidential library.

But pursuing a business deal involving a felon seeking a pardon from his administration would be an unprecedented overlap of his business and the government. A stake in Binance.US would also be a striking expansion of the family’s cryptocurrency endeavors as Trump signs a series of executive orders that benefit the industry.

World Liberty Financial declined to comment. The Trump Organization didn’t respond to a request for comment. Binance.US declined to comment, and Binance didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, was founded by Zhao in 2017 in Shanghai, though it later proclaimed to be based nowhere. 

U.S. officials said the exchange facilitated transactions with sanctioned groups, including Hamas and Islamic State, and encouraged U.S. users to obscure their location so the firm could avoid complying with U.S. anti-money-laundering laws. 

Eric Trump, who runs the Trump Organization, attended President Trump’s address to Congress last week. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

In 2023, Binance agreed to pay fines totaling $4.3 billion to settle the allegations. As part of the settlement, Zhao was required to step down as Binance’s chief executive, but he remains the majority shareholder. He was released from prison in September and lives in Abu Dhabi.

On Wednesday, Binance said that United Arab Emirates state-backed investor MGX had acquired a minority stake in the company for $2 billion, the first institutional investment in the exchange.

For Binance, a pardon for Zhao would clear the way for the company to return to the U.S. market, and could make it easier for the company to do business abroad. 

For the Trump family, a stake in Binance.US would give them the opportunity to participate in the potential revival of a onetime competitor to Coinbase in the U.S. crypto trading market, which is thriving as the administration rolls back regulatory threats that limited its growth.

The playbook to return

Binance, whose U.S. arm saw business fall sharply after regulatory actions, began exploring a return to the U.S. market last year around the time of Trump’s election win. The company told people it was willing to make a deal with Trump’s company and wanted to eliminate its legal problems, according to people familiar with the discussions. 

After Trump won, Binance set up a working group under CEO Richard Teng, which included senior legal and compliance staff, to assess options. Executives knew that Zhao’s conviction complicated any return, as it would be difficult to sign up new commercial partners in the U.S. with a felon as a majority shareholder.

Binance executives saw a potential legal playbook in the saga of Justin Sun, a China-born crypto entrepreneur who invested in a Trump crypto venture last fall as he faced civil charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a person familiar with the discussions. 

Binance.US was valued at $4.5 billion in 2022. Photo: REUTERS

Sun, founder of the Tron blockchain, had invested $30 million in November in World Liberty Financial, the Trump-backed crypto venture, becoming its largest investor. Last month, the SEC asked a court to pause its fraud lawsuit against Sun and three of his businesses. 

After Sun’s investment, Binance executives internally debated following the same route: a cash infusion into World Liberty Financial in exchange for a pardon for Zhao, the person familiar with the discussions said.

Sun, who has called the SEC lawsuit meritless, didn’t respond to requests for comment. The White House hasn’t responded to questions about whether Trump played a role in the SEC decision to pause its lawsuit against Sun. 

The talks

Trump’s friend Witkoff has been involved in talks about the deal with Binance, according to people familiar with the matter. Witkoff could also be a beneficiary if the deal goes through World Liberty Financial: Witkoff and his two sons are co-founders of the business, along with the Trumps. 

Witkoff has said he stepped away from the company after taking on his White House role. 

Since its formation last fall, World Liberty Financial has drawn criticism over its potential for foreign entities and those with business before the U.S. government to channel money to Trump and his family without public disclosure. 

An administration official disputed that Witkoff—who was in the Middle East this week for cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas and on Thursday landed in Moscow, where he is likely to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin—was involved in any talks. 

Steve Witkoff is President Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East. Photo: Ben Curtis/Associated Press

Talks for a deal and Binance’s push for a pardon for Zhao have continued since Trump’s inauguration, people familiar with the discussions say.

Last month, the SEC asked a court to pause a separate civil case against Binance and Binance.US while an SEC task force works on a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.

A pardon could help Binance repair parts of its business damaged by its long legal troubles. 

As it came under scrutiny by U.S. officials in 2019, Zhao set up the separate Binance.US exchange for American clients. In reality, it mostly functioned as a decoy to distract regulators while the global exchange kept signing up U.S. traders. 

Most of Binance.US’s senior staff left as the company faced legal woes in 2023, and the American exchange now reaches fewer traders than its competitors. At its peak that year, the platform had a market share of 27% in the U.S. before crashing to a little over 1%. The year prior, it was valued at $4.5 billion.  

President Trump hosted the first White House Crypto Summit a day after he signed an executive order to establish a government reserve for Bitcoin. Photo: Chris Kleponis/Press Pool

A pardon could clear the way to combine Binance and its U.S. arm, turning them into one global company. It would also open doors in the European Union, where companies with shareholders convicted of crimes including money-laundering violations are barred from applying for a crypto regulatory license. 

Crypto president

The Binance talks are the latest in a series of moves by Trump to embrace the crypto industry, both politically and personally. 

Presidents typically place their assets in blind trusts and abstain from striking business deals while in office, to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Trump has taken a different approach, putting his assets in the control of his children, who have continued to pursue business deals. 

As president, Trump is exempt from conflict-of-interest rules that apply to other administration members, though he is subject to a provision of the Constitution that bars officeholders from receiving payments from foreign governments.

The Trump Organization has said it won’t do business with foreign governments but didn’t rule out pursuing deals with foreign private companies.