# Binance The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, founded in 2017 by [[Changpeng Zhao]] (CZ). Binance processes roughly 38–40% of global spot crypto trading — several times its nearest competitor — with over 300 million registered users, approximately $34 trillion in trading volume in 2025, and an estimated $16.8 billion in revenue in 2024. Binance matters for the KB as a case study in how the [[Crypto-Political Machine]] operates: a company that pleaded guilty to the largest corporate criminal penalty in DOJ history ($4.3 billion) for enabling [[Money Laundering]] and sanctions evasion, whose founder received a presidential pardon within two years of his conviction — after his company donated code to the Trump family's crypto venture and facilitated a $2 billion investment from a UAE sovereign fund using a Trump-linked [[Stablecoin]]. The pardon was unannounced, and when it leaked, Trump claimed not to know Zhao's name. ## The DOJ Settlement (November 2023) On November 21, 2023, Binance entered the largest corporate guilty plea in DOJ history. The three charges: 1. **Conspiracy to violate the Bank Secrecy Act** — failing to implement an effective anti-money-laundering program despite processing billions in transactions from sanctioned countries 2. **Operating an unlicensed money services business** — knowingly serving U.S. customers while evading regulatory requirements 3. **Willful violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)** — enabling nearly $1 billion in illegal payments involving sanctioned countries and individuals, including Iran, Cuba, and [[Syria]] The $4.3 billion penalty included criminal fines, forfeiture, and settlements with the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). CZ personally pleaded guilty, paid a $50 million fine, and agreed to step down as CEO. He served four months at a federal low-security prison and halfway house. As part of the settlement, Binance was required to maintain an independent compliance monitor (Forensic Risk Alliance) for three years, with full access to internal documents and authority to report directly to the DOJ. By mid-2026, Binance was reportedly nearing a deal to end the monitorship requirement early. ## CZ's Pardon and the World Liberty Financial Pipeline On October 21, 2025, President Trump signed a "full and unconditional pardon" for [[Changpeng Zhao]]. The pardon was not publicly announced. When it leaked two days later, Trump told reporters: "I don't know him." The timeline suggests otherwise: - **Binance donated software** to [[World Liberty Financial]] (WLFI), the Trump family crypto venture, helping create the initial code that enabled issuance of USD1, WLFI's stablecoin - CZ **lobbied for the pardon** through lawyer and lobbyist Ches McDowell, described as a longtime friend of [[Donald Trump Jr.]] - In **May 2025**, MGX — an Abu Dhabi state-backed fund led by [[Tahnoon bin Zayed]], the UAE's national security adviser — invested **$2 billion in Binance using USD1**, the Trump-linked stablecoin. The deal simultaneously boosted Binance's balance sheet, legitimized USD1 as a serious financial instrument, and routed Emirati sovereign money through a Trump family product - In **January 2026**, it was reported that Tahnoon bin Zayed's interests had agreed to buy **49% of WLFI for $500 million**, days before Trump's inauguration Zhao later told CNBC his business relationship with the Trump family had been "misconstrued," stating: "There's no business relationships whatsoever." Former DOJ Pardon Attorney Margaret Love described the pardon as "corruption." The pattern matches what the KB tracks under [[Pardons as Currency]]: a presidential pardon exchanged for financial benefit to the president's family ventures, with a sovereign wealth fund as the intermediary. ## The SEC Case (2023–2025) Separately from the DOJ criminal case, the SEC filed 13 charges against Binance, CZ, and the U.S. entities BAM Trading Services and BAM Management US Holdings in June 2023. The allegations included misleading investors about nonexistent trading controls on the Binance.US platform while the defendants concealed the commingling of billions in investor assets. In June 2024, Judge Amy Berman Jackson denied most of the defendants' motion to dismiss, allowing the majority of claims to proceed. But in May 2025, the SEC filed a joint stipulation to dismiss the entire case with prejudice — meaning it can never be refiled. The dismissal came under the Trump-era SEC, which had signaled a dramatically softer approach to crypto enforcement. The case was one of the most significant regulatory retreats in SEC history. ## Binance.US Binance.US (operated by BAM Trading Services) was the exchange's nominally independent U.S. arm, created to provide regulatory cover while the global exchange continued serving American customers directly. The SEC alleged this separation was largely cosmetic: CZ maintained control, commingled funds, and used Sigma Chain — a trading firm he secretly controlled — to inflate Binance.US trading volumes. Following the DOJ settlement and SEC lawsuit, Binance.US was effectively sidelined: it suspended USD deposits and withdrawals in June 2023, delisted most trading pairs, and has operated as a diminished entity since. ## USD1 and the Stablecoin Pipeline USD1, launched in March 2025 by [[World Liberty Financial]], grew to approximately $4.5 billion in circulating supply by Q1 2026 — making it the fastest-growing fiat-backed stablecoin of the period. Binance listed USD1 trading pairs, providing the liquidity and market access that turned WLFI's stablecoin from a speculative venture into a functioning financial instrument. The MGX deal demonstrated how the stablecoin pipeline works: an Emirati sovereign fund uses a Trump-linked stablecoin to invest in an exchange whose founder was pardoned by Trump. Every node in the transaction benefits the Trump family financially while connecting U.S. presidential power to Gulf sovereign wealth. In April 2026, [[Justin Sun]] — the crypto entrepreneur who had been WLFI's largest individual investor — filed a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial alleging extortion, claiming he was denied promised voting rights for his WLFI tokens and that his wallets had been frozen. The lawsuit exposed internal tensions in the Trump crypto ecosystem. ## Corporate Structure and Operations | Metric | Value | |--------|-------| | **Trading volume (2025)** | ~$34 trillion | | **Global spot market share** | ~38–40% | | **Registered users** | 300M+ | | **Revenue (2024)** | $16.8B (est.) | | **Employees** | ~14,000 | | **Headquarters** | Abu Dhabi, UAE (ADGM regulatory authorization) | | **CEO** | Richard Teng (since November 2023) | | **Founder** | [[Changpeng Zhao]] (pardoned, no longer CEO but remains influential) | Binance has no single official global headquarters but has established its most comprehensive regulatory presence in Abu Dhabi under the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) framework — the first global crypto exchange to secure full ADGM authorization. ## Why It Matters Binance is the KB's clearest example of how the [[Crypto-Political Machine]] converts criminal liability into political access: 1. **The crime** — $4.3 billion in penalties for enabling sanctions evasion and money laundering 2. **The conversion** — technical assistance and stablecoin infrastructure provided to the Trump family's crypto venture 3. **The pardon** — a full and unconditional presidential pardon for the convicted founder 4. **The payoff** — Gulf sovereign wealth flowing through Trump-linked financial instruments into the pardoned founder's exchange The [[GENIUS Act]], if enacted, would create the regulatory framework for stablecoins like USD1 — legislation the Trump administration supports and that would directly benefit the financial products connecting Binance to the Trump family. ## See Also - [[Changpeng Zhao]] — founder, convicted and pardoned - [[World Liberty Financial]] — the Trump family crypto venture using Binance infrastructure - [[Crypto-Political Machine]] — the system connecting crypto money to political power - [[Pardons as Currency]] — the pattern of pardons exchanged for political and financial benefit - [[Trump 2025 Pardon Spree]] — the broader context of Trump's pardon pattern - [[Tahnoon bin Zayed]] — the UAE national security adviser whose fund invested $2B through USD1 - [[Justin Sun]] — WLFI's largest investor who later sued the venture - [[Tether]] — the dominant stablecoin that USD1 competes with - [[GENIUS Act]] — the stablecoin legislation that would regulate and legitimize USD1 - [[Cryptocurrency Ecosystem]] — the broader crypto landscape - [[Emoluments Clauses]] — the constitutional framework for presidential financial conflicts