Trump's Crypto Pardons Spark Ethics Crisis as Family Profits Expand

Donald Trump's pardon of Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao has ignited a firestorm of scrutiny, with critics accusing the administration of conflating political power and personal financial interests in the crypto sector. In a wide-ranging 60 Minutes interview, the president insisted he "didn't know who" Zhao was and claimed the decision was driven by a desire to counter what he called a "Biden witch hunt," according to a Decrypt report. The pardon, however, coincided with the Trump family's deepening ties to crypto ventures, including a $2 billion transaction involving World Liberty Financial (WLF), a firm linked to the president's sons, as detailed in a Yahoo Finance report.

Zhao, who pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating anti-money-laundering laws and served four months in prison, was cleared of running Binance's operations under Trump's order. The White House framed the move as a rebuke of the Biden administration's "war on cryptocurrency", the BBC reported. Yet Democrats, including Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff, have called for a congressional review of the pardon, citing potential conflicts of interest given WLF's partnership with Binance-affiliated entities, The Guardian reported.

The controversy underscores the Trump family's aggressive pivot into crypto, which Reuters estimates generated $802 million in revenue for the family in the first half of 2025—far outpacing their traditional business income, according to a Cointelegraph analysis. WLF's stablecoin and memecoin projects, along with high-velocity treasury deals, have drawn attention for their opaque structures and lucrative splits. While the White House denies wrongdoing, ethics experts warn that a president overseeing crypto policy while his family profits from the industry creates a "novel conflict of interest," as Cointelegraph noted.

Trump has positioned himself as a crypto champion, vowing to make the U.S. "number one" in the sector and comparing its strategic importance to artificial intelligence, as Decrypt reported. His administration has also pardoned other crypto figures, including BitMEX founders and Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, the BBC reported. Meanwhile, David Sacks, Trump's newly appointed "crypto czar," has echoed the administration's bullish stance, calling crypto the "industry of the future," according to a Benzinga report.

The political calculus extends beyond the U.S. As Chinese AI models like DeepSeek and Alibaba's Qwen outperform Western counterparts in crypto trading contests, WebProNews reported, the administration's push to dominate crypto faces growing global competition. Chinese AIs have demonstrated superior adaptability in volatile markets, raising questions about whether U.S. innovation can keep pace.

With the Trump family's crypto empire expanding and ethical concerns mounting, the pardon of Zhao has become a focal point for debates over transparency, regulatory capture, and the risks of conflating presidential power with personal profit. As the Senate prepares to investigate, the administration's crypto agenda remains a lightning rod for partisan tensions.