Markets lit up when Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao quietly dropped the “ex-@binance” tag from his social bio, a small change that unleashed big speculation: was the former CEO preparing for a Trump crypto pardon?
Why? Because Cz is based. CZ is the god king of crypto.
On Polymarket, pardon odds swung wildly, hitting 64% on Saturday before slipping to 45% by press time. The back-and-forth highlights how closely investors link Zhao’s fate to Binance’s prospects.
Zhao said in May that his legal team had filed a pardon request. If granted, it could open the door for him to return to Binance leadership despite restrictions from his 2023 plea deal. Binance has declined to comment.
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Speculation isn’t baseless. Trump has already pardoned multiple high-profile cryptocurrency figures, including Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht and BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed. Supporters see CZ as the next logical candidate.
CZ pardon odds keep rising on Polymarket with zero news.
Are these Binance insiders buying or just degens doing degen stuff?
Guess we will find out very soon pic.twitter.com/1SEUkp9COL
— Car (@CarOnPolymarket) September 13, 2025
Trump’s family also deepened their ties heavily to the crypto industry. With their company World Liberty Financial, they’ve entered deals linked to Binance, further blurring the line between politics and markets. Moreover, now most of the Trump family’s wealth is tied to crypto, according to WSJ.
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Binance Still Faces Lawmaker Scrutiny: Will CZ Ever Return to The Company?
Even if a pardon materializes, Binance is far from free of oversight. Under its 2023 settlement with US regulators, the exchange paid $4.3Bn in penalties and remains under three years of compliance monitoring. Richard Teng has since stepped in as CEO.
In a letter to US Attorney General Pam Bondi, Democratic senators warned against weakening the settlement against Binance, calling the compliance monitor a “key oversight condition.”
One senator highlighted Zhao’s “financial entanglements with the President’s family” as a conflict of interest, suggesting any shift in monitoring could reopen regulatory battles.
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Investor Takeaway: We’re In Game Of Thrones Territory
For investors, the calculus is tricky:
- A Trump pardon could restore CZ’s influence and lift Binance to Coinbase levels of trust
- Heightened political scrutiny could just as easily weigh on Binance’s US expansion.
On-chain data from DeFiLlama shows Binance still dominates crypto exchange liquidity, handling over 40% of global spot trading volume. But compliance risk remains the biggest overhang.
If CZ returns, it may rally loyal Binance users. Traders should expect volatility as politics, law, and crypto markets collide.
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Key Takeaways
- CZ Binance quietly dropped the “ex-@binance” tag from his social bio, a small change, but is he preparing for a Trump crypto pardon?
- On-chain data from DeFiLlama shows Binance still dominates crypto exchange liquidity.
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