ranking Democratic member of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee Maxine WatersPresident Donald Trump’s founder of Binance Changpeng ZhaoHe reacted harshly to his forgiveness. Waters stated that Trump did a great favor to cryptocurrency criminals at a time when the government was still closed, and described the pardon as a symbol of corruption and self-interest.
Waters: “Opening Space for Cryptocurrency Crimes”
Waters criticized Trump’s decision in shocking but not surprising terms in her press release on Thursday. The congressman emphasized that Trump prioritizes his own interests and puts the public interest in the background. According to Waters, the timing of the pardon shows that the White House is disregarding the rule of law for its political gain.
white house Defending the amnesty, he stated that Zhao was the victim of the Biden administration’s policy of punishing the cryptocurrency industry. Zhao, who was found guilty of violating the obligation to prevent money laundering in 2023, paid a fine of $50 million and spent four months in prison. Binance also signed a settlement agreement worth $4.3 billion in the same period. Trump told reporters that he did not know Zhao personally and that he was recommended to him by many people.
Waters claimed that Zhao’s lobbying activities with Trump and his family were behind the pardon. Congressman says Zhao has Trump ties World Liberty Financial He claimed that he transferred billions to the crypto company called and that the amnesty was a clear conflict of interest.
Cryptocurrency Amnesty Debate Deepens
Trump pardons Zhao cryptocurrency It is also considered as a door of hope for other names in the sector. Waters argued that the pardon was meant to legitimize cryptocurrency crimes and could encourage illegal activities. He stated that by pardoning people like Zhao, the Trump administration gave white-collar workers political immunity for crimes.
The steps taken by Trump after his re-election are seen as retaliation against the Biden administration cases that he criticized in the previous period. Trump, founder of Silk Road, last week Ross UlbrichtHe also forgave . Now all eyes are on the FTX founder who was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Sam Bankman-FriedIt was converted to . In his last post, Bankman-Fried claimed that his arrest in 2022 was a political operation.
In the cryptocurrency world, some users refer to Tornado Cash developer. Roman StormHe also called for forgiveness. Storm was accused of developing software that facilitated unauthorized money transfer.
