CZ, co founder of Binance, was officially pardoned by President Donald Trump in October 2025 after serving four months in prison for violations of anti-money laundering laws. It wasn’t just a legal battle; it was a battle for market share played out in the halls of Washington.
The Hidden Lobbying War
In a candid discussion on the Crypto Banter podcast this past Saturday, CZ didn’t hold back. He suggested that his road to a pardon was nearly derailed by what he described as “strong anti-lobbying” from rival US-based exchanges. According to Zhao, these competitors weren’t just concerned with justice; they were worried about the return of a giant. He noted that while he lacks a “smoking gun” in the form of physical evidence, he is quite certain that several perceived competitors pushed back against his clemency to keep Binance from regaining its footing on American soil.
Market Re-entry and Competitor Fears
These rivalries have very high stakes. In November of 2023, Binance exited U.S. operations permanently with a four billion dollar agreement resolving its dispute with the U.S. government. Due to its previous status as one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, there are currently many smaller U.S. based exchanges trying to fill this void. The possibility of CZ receiving a pardon meant that the world’s largest exchange could potentially return to the market at some point in the future. While those that held that opinion may have felt their predictions were correct, Binance.US resumed operations for eligible users in February (approximately four months after the pardon was granted). For CZ, the opposition from rivals was a clear strategic move to protect their own territory from the industry’s most dominant force.
A Presidential “Witch Hunt” Perspective
President Trump’s decision to grant the pardon was also wrapped in political theater. During a November 2025 interview on 60 Minutes, Trump admitted he wasn’t personally familiar with the details of Zhao’s daily work but had been convinced that the executive was a victim of a “witch hunt.” He described the former administration’s clampdown on Binance as an attack on him because it was politically motivated; therefore this narrative was useful for providing him the political cover for granting his pardon despite the disappointment of his competitors who were lobbying against him.
Clearing the Legal Clouds
Apart from receiving a pardon from the President of the United States, Zhao has achieved additional wins in the courts that further strengthen his reputation. In March of 2026, a Federal Court in Alabama dismissed a lawsuit from 2024 that had claimed Zhao and Binance assisted terrorist organisations by transferring funds for them. The lawsuit’s dismissal eliminated a major threat to Binance’s ability to conduct business, which had been an issue for years, and shifted attention away from the courts to the future of the industry, particularly with respect to the US Clarifying Leading Authority for Real-Time Transaction Systems Act (aka CLARITY) being considered by Congress and going through its first markup on 14th May 2026.
The 2031 Vision: Invisible Infrastructure
Despite any previous disagreements between CZ personally or as a business leader, CZ has turned toward long-term goals related not only to blockchain but also to technological evolution generally. On the Wolf of All Streets podcast with Scott Melker, he described what he envisions will happen in 2031 when blockchains and crypto will no longer be distinguishable from other areas of technology; he believes that in less than five years there shouldn’t even be any conversation about “crypto” as an industry or type of technology. Just as we no longer discuss the technical protocols like HTML or JavaScript that run the internet, Zhao believes blockchain will simply be the quiet, reliable engine behind our daily digital interactions. For him, the end goal is a world where the technology is so successful that it becomes unremarkable.
