Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Chao said his business ties to President Donald Trump’s family have been “misunderstood” following his pardon.
“There is no business relationship whatsoever,” Chao told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin in an interview Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Binance’s former CEO pleaded guilty in 2023 to charges of enabling money laundering during his time leading the company and served a four-month prison sentence. Mr. Zhao was released in September 2024.
President Trump’s pardon in October 2025 drew attention to the relationship between Binance and World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company founded by the president’s family.
The connection dates back to March 2025, when MGX, a state-owned company based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, invested $2 billion in Binance. MGX was paid using the stablecoin USD1 created by World Liberty Financial.
Zhao will step down as Binance CEO in 2023 as part of a plea deal and $4.3 billion settlement with the Department of Justice. He remains a major shareholder.
“MGX is the investor. They chose $1,” Zhao told CNBC. “What I asked them to do was to pay me in cryptocurrencies. I don’t want to deal with banks, really.”
“A lot of people misunderstand it,” he added.
Chao told CNBC that the company then converted that investment over time, breaking it down from $1.
“A stablecoin is just a payment currency. Accepting it does not mean you are investing in the issuer,” he said.
“As we have stated many times, WLFI is not a political organization and plays no role in the pardon process,” World Liberty Financial spokesman David Waxman said in a statement. “It is dangerous and false to suggest otherwise.”
Following the pardon, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that in addition to MGX investing with USD1, Binance also helped build the technology behind the stablecoin.
Asked later why he issued the order, Trump said: “A lot of people say he did nothing wrong.” “And at the request of many very good people, I granted him a pardon.”
NBC News reported the week of President Trump’s pardon that Binance recently hired lobbyist Charles McDowell’s company Checkmate Government Relations. Mr. McDowell is a friend of the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr.
Checkmate revealed it was paid $450,000 for work that included lobbying the White House and Treasury Department for “administrative relief” and “financial services policy issues related to digital assets and cryptocurrencies.”
“Many media outlets are saying that there is some kind of deal to pardon me,” Chao told CNBC in Davos. “As far as I know, that’s not the case at all.”
Zhao told CNBC in Davos that he had not yet spoken directly to President Trump.
“The closest I was to him was today when he was holding a peace committee meeting,” Zhao said. “I was in the audience and about 30 to 40 feet away from him.”
In an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” in November, President Trump denied knowing Mr. Zhao.
“I have no idea who he is,” Trump said. “I heard that, like me, and like many others, he was a victim of the Biden administration’s evil and horrifying group.”
—CNBC’s Jacqueline Corba contributed to this article.
