Elizabeth Warren Says 'Convicted Felon' Leveraged Trump Family's Crypto Interests For Pardon: Senator Makes Scathing Comments On Binance Co-Founder

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned a potential quid pro quo involving the Trump family’s cryptocurrency ventures and Binance’s BNB/USD convicted ex-CEO Changpeng Zhao.

What Happened: In an X post, Warren cited a recent report that claimed Binance covertly helped President Donald Trump-backed cryptocurrency company World Liberty Financial develop the USD1 stablecoin.

“One of the Trump family's crypto ventures got behind-the-scenes help from the world's largest crypto exchange,” Warren said. “Its founder? A convicted felon now seeking a Trump pardon.”

Warren was referring to Zhao, who was sentenced for anti-money laundering violations in the U.S. Zhou paid a $50 million fine, stepped down from the company and subsequently served four months in prison.

The senior Democrat, who has been fighting hard to convince lawmakers to take notice of Trump’s cryptocurrency activities, urged Congress to address this issue before passing bills that would enable him to profit more.

Benzinga reached out to Binance and the White House for a comment. The story will be updated once they respond.

Why It Matters: The report suggested that Binance allegedly helped write the core code for the dollar-pegged stablecoin USD1, and the code facilitated an Emirati investment firm to acquire a $2 billion stake in Binance using USD1.

Zhao called the report a hit piece and was contemplating a defamation lawsuit.

Warren had deemed the deal “shady” and a national security risk, accusing Trump of profiting from foreign cryptocurrency agreements. She urged Congress to vote against the GENIUS Act, also known as the stablecoin bill, because it would enable Trump’s “crypto corruption.” The bill eventually passed the Senate

Trump reported incomes exceeding $57 million from World Liberty Financial in his latest disclosure.

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