White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump “exercised his constitutional authority by pardoning Mr. Zhao, who was criminally prosecuted by the Biden administration as part of its war on cryptocurrencies.” She added, “The Biden administration’s war on crypto is over.”

CZ’s crypto attorney, Teresa Goody Guillén, said Thursday that the pardon was the right decision, noting her client faced “a single charge of failure to implement an effective compliance program. NO fraud, NO victims, NO criminal history. NO money laundering.”

“CZ is the first and only known first-time offender in U.S. history to be sentenced to prison for this single, non-fraud-related charge,” she said.

“The judge found NO evidence that he was aware of any illegal transactions or had any reasonable cause to believe that the platform contained illicit funds.”

Zhao was sentenced in April 2024 to four months in prison for money laundering, a term he has already served. Binance also paid a $4.3 billion fine as part of its settlement with U.S. authorities.

Trump has previously pardoned several notable figures in the crypto industry, including Ross Ulbricht (Silk Road founder) and Arthur Hayes (BitMEX co-founder).

The news of CZ’s pardon immediately boosted the Binance Coin (BNB) price, which surged 3.7% within an hour to reach $1,140.