Outspoken Trump supporter and tech investor Joe Lonsdale has sharply criticized President Donald Trump\u2019s recent pardon of Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder of Binance, one of the world\u2019s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. Lonsdale, known for his vocal views on politics and technology, did not mince words when addressing what he calls a \u201cdeeply troubling example of political favoritism.\u201d<\/p>\n
CZ was convicted in 2023 for failing to implement effective anti-money laundering controls at Binance, resulting in a four-month prison sentence and multi-billion dollar fines. After completing his sentence, CZ received a full presidential pardon on October 23, 2025. The White House justified the pardon by claiming that the prosecution was excessive and not rooted in actual fraud or victim harm. Trump\u2019s spokesperson argued the move was necessary to \u201ccorrect Biden\u2019s war on crypto\u201d and revitalize America\u2019s tech leadership.<\/p>\n
Lonsdale, however, sees the pardon as an abuse of executive power. He argued that dismissing the legal consequences for CZ sends a dangerous message to both the cryptocurrency industry and the business world at large. According to Lonsdale, this action undermines trust in regulatory enforcement and hints at possible improper influence, especially considering Binance\u2019s reported ties to Trump family ventures. Critics suggest that instead of advancing innovation, the pardon appears to be serving personal interests.<\/p>\n
The CZ pardon fits into a larger pattern of Trump\u2019s pro-crypto actions since returning to office, which have included loosening industry regulations and granting clemency to multiple high-profile crypto figures. While these moves have energized parts of the digital asset sector, they have also sparked warnings from lawmakers and industry veterans who see them as threatening the integrity of the U.S. financial system.<\/p>\n
As debate continues, Lonsdale\u2019s remarks highlight growing divisions within the tech and crypto communities regarding the role of government in policing digital currencies. The crypto world may benefit from clearer rules and fairer enforcement, but critics like Lonsdale warn that political favoritism only erodes the credibility needed to build a stable financial future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Outspoken Trump supporter and tech investor Joe Lonsdale has sharply criticized President Donald Trump\u2019s recent pardon of Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder of Binance, one of the world\u2019s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. Lonsdale, known for his vocal views on politics and technology, did not mince words when addressing what he calls a \u201cdeeply troubling example of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.0","language":"ms","enabled_languages":["en","de","ja","vi","ms"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"de":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"ja":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"vi":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"ms":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-24T180004.7430700.jpg",1366,768,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-24T180004.7430700.jpg",1366,768,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-24T180004.7430700.jpg",1366,768,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-24T180004.7430700-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-24T180004.7430700-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"large":["https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-24T180004.7430700-1024x576.jpg",1024,576,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-24T180004.7430700.jpg",1366,768,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-24T180004.7430700.jpg",1366,768,false],"blog-thumb":["https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-24T180004.7430700-530x250.jpg",530,250,true],"blog-full":["https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-24T180004.7430700-1100x450.jpg",1100,450,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"tranhuynhmy@proton.me","author_link":"https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/ms\/author\/tranhuynhmyproton-me\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Outspoken Trump supporter and tech investor Joe Lonsdale has sharply criticized President Donald Trump\u2019s recent pardon of Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder of Binance, one of the world\u2019s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. Lonsdale, known for his vocal views on politics and technology, did not mince words when addressing what he calls a \u201cdeeply troubling example of…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4137"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4138,"href":"https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137\/revisions\/4138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blockchainenews.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}