Richard Teng, chief govt officer of Binance, in the course of the DC Blockchain Summit in Washington, DC, U.S., on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.
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Binance CEO Richard Teng has dismissed claims that the cryptocurrency trade helped increase a Trump-backed stablecoin earlier than former CEO Changpeng Zhao acquired a presidential pardon.
The claims in query relate to a $2 billion funding Binance acquired from Abu Dhabi’s state-owned funding agency MGX. The deal was settled utilizing USD1, a stablecoin created by the Trump household’s crypto enterprise, World Liberty Monetary.
MGX’s funding and Binance’s subsequent itemizing of USD1 on its trade helped bolster the stablecoin’s utilization and credibility, with some lawmakers and stories suggesting this will have influenced the pardon of Zhao, generally often known as CZ.
Nevertheless, in a CNBC interview on Monday, Teng rejected the notion that Binance — the world’s largest cryptocurrency agency — had given USD1 any preferential remedy.
“Initially, the utilization of USD1 [for the] transaction between MGX as a strategic investor into Binance, that was determined by MGX … We did not partake in that call,” Teng stated.
He famous that USD1 had already been listed on different exchanges earlier than Binance, including that, because the “largest crypto ecosystem on the planet,” the corporate commonly engages with promising new tasks.
“Generally it really works out. Generally it does not. Within the case of USD1, I am glad that each events labored it out.”
Accusations of corruption
Teng’s denials come after the Wall Road Journal reported final week that Binance not solely facilitated the settlement of MGX’s funding utilizing USD1, but in addition assisted in constructing the expertise behind the stablecoin, citing nameless sources aware of the matter.
The Journal additionally beforehand famous that World Liberty Monetary benefited drastically from the itemizing of its USD1 token on Binance and a partnership with PancakeSwap — a web-based market for cryptocurrencies stated to be related to Binance.
In the meantime, scrutiny of CZ’s pardon and Binance’s ties to the Trump-linked World Liberty Monetary has continued to mount from opposition leaders on Capitol Hill.
Among the many most distinguished voices has been Sen. Elizabeth Warren, rating member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and City Affairs Committee, who has accused Binance and the Trump administration of corruption.
In a assertion final month, the vocal critic of the crypto business stated: “First, Changpeng Zhao pleaded responsible to a felony cash laundering cost. Then he boosted one in every of Donald Trump’s crypto ventures and lobbied for a pardon,” with the President later doing “his half.”
Binance didn’t reply instantly to a request for remark. CZ stepped down as Binance chief govt in 2023, however stays the most important shareholder of the corporate, in line with Teng.
Critics have lengthy questioned World Liberty Monetary’s open connections to the Trump administration because it seeks new partnerships and buyers abroad.
In response to World Liberty Monetary’s web site, a Trump-affiliated agency known as DT Marks DEFI LLC, together with members of the Trump household, receives a serious share of the platform’s income and holds digital tokens backing the corporate, often known as WLFI. The agency has reportedly netted the Trump household a whole bunch of tens of millions to billions in earnings.
Nevertheless, it additionally states that Trump, his household or any members of the Trump Group or DT Marks DEFI LLC are usually not an “officer, director, founder, or worker of, or supervisor, proprietor or operator of World Liberty Monetary or its associates.”
MGX’s buy of $2 billion in USD1 tokens has additionally raised eyebrows after a New York Occasions report in September famous that it occurred two weeks earlier than the White Home signed a serious settlement with the U.A.E. on entry to a whole bunch of 1000’s of American microchips.
In a dialog with CNBC final month, Donald Trump Jr., the U.S. president’s eldest son and a co-founder of World Liberty Monetary, dismissed the stories and broader considerations about potential conflicts of curiosity.
He was joined by the agency’s CEO, Zach Witkoff, son of U.S. Particular Envoy to the Center East Steve Witkoff, who stated their fathers weren’t targeted on nor immediately concerned within the enterprise.
Trump’s crypto embrace
Zhao was pressured to step down from his position at Binance in 2023 after pleading responsible to enabling cash laundering by way of the cryptocurrency trade.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in an announcement on Oct. 23 that Zhao had been prosecuted beneath the Biden administration “regardless of no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims.”
Trump later stated he pardoned Zhao “on the request of a variety of superb individuals” and that he knew nothing about him.
Since returning to workplace, Trump has embraced the crypto sector, proposing new digital asset laws whereas rolling again enforcement actions that focused crypto exchanges reminiscent of Coinbase and Ripple in the course of the prior administration.
Talking Monday, Teng stated that Binance and the crypto business “have been very grateful” to the president for CZ’s pardon and for signaling that the U.S. would be the “international crypto capital of the world.”
