Binance has reportedly held a discussion with the Trump family on them acquiring a stake in Binance US, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
Sources claim that such an acquisition may also lead to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao receiving a pardon after the ex-CEO pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering charges in 2023, which CZ has responded to.
Trump’s stake may also come with a collaborative stablecoin between Trump’s World Liberty Financial and Binance.
Trump family in talks to gain stake in Binance US, what could this mean?
Binance US may have members of the Trump family on its board after the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s family held a meeting with Binance.
Trump’s family stake in Binance US may also lead to Binance founder CZ being pardoned for his 2023 charges which he pled guilty to, although, according to CZ himself, the report is most likely made up.
From Changpeng Zhao via X/Twitter:
They probably asked hundreds of people to have 20 people reach out to me. In essence, they tried hard to make a story to report.
No felon would mind a pardon, especially being the only one in US history who was ever sentenced to prison for a single BSA charge.
The acquisition could take place directly through the Trump family or via World Liberty FInancial cryptocurrency platform led by Eric Trump.
According to Bloomberg, the deal also explored chances for a collaborative stablecoin between World Liberty and Binance if the stake deal went through.
On Chengpeng Zhou’s rumoured pardoning, Binance paid a $4.4 billion fine and resulted in Changpeng Zhao being imprisoned for four months following the trial.
Changpeng Zhao took to X/Twitter to dispel the rumours stating that the WSJ “got the facts wrong” and found that the WSJ angled their article as an attack on crypto, leftover from the Gensler era of the SEC.
Will Binance and World Liberty Financial launch a stablecoin?
The announcement has also spurred rumors that as part of the deal, World Liberty Financial will work with Binance on a new stablecoin.
Founded in 2024, World Liberty Financial is a decentralized protocol that allows users to earn on their cryptocurrency holdings via various yield applications.
The company is led by members of the Trump family, including Eric Trump, a staunch Ethereum and Bitcoin supporter. In recent months, the company has acquired holdings in Ondo Finance, Move, and Ethereum while wrapping up their $500 million+ WLFI token presale.
A collaborative stablecoin between WLFI and Binance could come with strong regulatory compliance rules, which would make the token eligible for cross-border transactions and implementations into payment systems, similar to Ripple’s RLSUD or Circle’s USDC, one of the biggest stablecoins in crypto.
Trump’s family acquiring a stake in Binance would legitimize Binance as a leading exchange on a similar level to Coinbase, which is currently one of the most regulatory compliant exchanges in the world.
Binance’s native BNB token, part of Binance’s BNB Chain, is down 11% over the past 30 days after making a new all-time high of $788 in December 2024.
