Free Republic

America’s Founders made the presidential pardon power absolute, and they did so as a protection against injustice. But Hamilton and Madison might be having second thoughts as they watch President Trump dole out pardons as a form of political legal tender. In the latest example, Mr. Trump on Wednesday pardoned crypto kingpin Changpeng Zhao, who happens to be a Trump family business partner. “I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people,” Mr. Trump said. “A lot of people say that he wasn’t guilty of anything.” One of those people wasn’t Mr. Zhao, unless...

The Trump administration excels at sowing uncertainty. But it is sending an unambiguous message to crypto entrepreneurs who may be operating on the fringes of the law, or outside of it: Don’t worry about a thing. ICYMI: President Donald Trump on Thursday issued yet another reprieve for a crypto mogul who happens to have greatly enriched the Trump family’s net worth. Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former CEO of crypto exchange Binance, served a four-month prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2023 to charges related to anti-money-laundering violations. Zhao, widely known as “CZ,” was released in September 2024. After months...

President Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, the founder of crypto exchange Binance, according to a statement from the White House. Why it matters: The company had been lobbying Trump for more than a year — the pardon likely provides a path for Binance to operate in the U.S. What they're saying: ""President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency. In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden Administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or...

Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, pleaded guilty to money laundering violations, the government said on Tuesday, a stunning blow to the most powerful and influential figure in the global crypto industry. Binance itself also pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines and restitution [and much, much more]

even though the Mazars report ... suggested Binance's situation was solid, it also showed bitcoin liabilities were $245 million bigger than assets, the WSJ reported. Nearly half of the company's $75 billion reserves are in its own stablecoin BUSD and its native token binance coin (BNB) ... On Friday, the accounting firm suspended its proof-of-reserves work with Binance and other crypto clients "due to concerns regarding the way these reports are understood by the public, Investors are worried that cracks are starting to appear at Binance after the shocking collapse of FTX. The crypto exchange giant faces questions about its...

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has cautioned the crypto community about self-custody, suggesting that 99% of people choosing to take possession of their crypto will likely lose it one way or another.

A Twitter insider was responsible for a wave of high profile account takeovers on Wednesday, according to leaked screenshots obtained by Motherboard and two sources who took over accounts. On Wednesday, a spike of high profile accounts including those of Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Uber, and Apple tweeted cryptocurrency scams in an apparent hack. "We used a rep that literally done all the work for us," one of the sources told Motherboard. The second source added they paid the Twitter insider. Motherboard granted the sources anonymity to speak candidly about a security incident. A Twitter spokesperson...

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has received a formal warning from Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) for operating in the country without registering with the regulatory agency as a cryptocurrency trading platform. In a letter dated March 23 and addressed to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, the FSA warned the exchange operator to cease operating in Japan without a license. The company had said it intends to seek FSA licensure, but it had already moved staff into Tokyo and had allowed Japanese residents to trade on the exchange, which currently only offers cryptocurrency-to-cryptocurrency trading pairs. Nikkei had reported Thursday that the FSA would...