So, a Crypto Billionaire Gets a Presidential Pardon. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
'I don't know who he is', says Trump after pardoning crypto tycoon.
Let's just sit with that for a second. The President of the United States, when asked why he pardoned a multi-billionaire crypto tycoon who pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering, looks a camera in the eye and says, "I don't know who he is."
Give me a break.
This isn't just some random guy. This is Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, the founder of Binance, the biggest crypto exchange on the planet. And Trump has "no idea" who he is? This, despite the fact that CZ's companies have partnered with firms tied directly to Trump, like Dominari Holdings. A company that, get this, is based in Trump Tower and has the president's own sons on its board of advisers.
It’s like watching a toddler, face smeared with chocolate, standing over an empty cake tin and swearing he has no idea what happened to the dessert. Are we really expected to be this stupid? Do they think we don't have Google? The sheer audacity is almost impressive, if it wasn't so damn insulting to anyone with a functioning brain stem. This ain't a memory lapse; it's a calculated middle finger to the very idea of accountability.
The "War on Crypto" Is Just a War on Consequences
The official line from the White House, delivered with a straight face by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, is that CZ's prosecution was part of the Biden administration's "war on cryptocurrency." This was an "overly prosecuted case," she said, and the pardon was just to "correct this overreach."
Let's translate that from PR-speak into English. The "war on crypto" is a fantastic little narrative they've cooked up. It paints anyone who dares to suggest that maybe, just maybe, financial institutions shouldn't facilitate massive money laundering as an enemy of innovation. It's a shield. A get-out-of-jail-free card for an entire class of tech bros who got rich by operating in legal gray areas and are now shocked—shocked—that regulators want to enforce the rules.
This is just corruption. No, 'corruption' is too clean a word—this is the plumbing of the new swamp being laid in broad daylight.
And it’s not a one-off. Remember the founders of BitMEX? Pardoned. Ross Ulbricht, the guy who ran the Silk Road dark web drug market? Pardoned. The goverment's message is crystal clear: if you’re rich enough, connected enough, and operate in an industry the president finds politically useful, the law is merely a suggestion. A temporary inconvenience that can be wiped away with the stroke of a pen.
While the rest of the market is biting its nails over jobs reports and what some Treasury Secretary says about interest rates—with Bitcoin stuck under $113k like a car in the mud—the real action is happening right here. This is the stuff that actually matters. Not the daily price ticks, but the fundamental rotting of the system that’s supposed to oversee it all. They're not even trying to hide it anymore, and the worst part is... well, the worst part is that it seems to be working.
Don't Watch the Price, Watch Their Hands
It’s easy to get lost in the on-chain metrics and the market chatter. Traders are worried because Bitcoin can't seem to break a key resistance level. Crypto Prices Slip Ahead of US Jobs Data as Bessent Flags Rate Risks. Everyone is trying to read the tea leaves, to predict the next big move, to figure out if we're in for a soft landing or a full-blown crash.
But that’s all a distraction. It's the magician's left hand, waving frantically to keep your eyes off what the right hand is doing.
The right hand is signing pardons for convicted financial criminals who just so happen to have business ties to the president's family. The right hand is dismantling regulatory oversight under the guise of being "pro-business." The right hand is turning the presidency into a concierge service for its wealthiest and most loyal supporters. Why would anyone with that kind of power care about a soft landing for the economy when they can guarantee a soft landing for their friends?
Maybe I'm the crazy one here. Maybe this is just how the world works now, and I'm the last idiot who still expects things like "the rule of law" to mean something. But when a man who pleaded guilty to crimes that prosecutors said caused "significant harm to US national security" gets a full pardon, and the official justification is a lie so transparent a child could see through it, what are we even doing? What's the point of pretending any of this is normal?
Just Another Tuesday in the Banana Republic
Let's be brutally honest. This isn't about crypto policy. It isn't about correcting an "overreach" or fighting a "witch hunt." This is about transactions. It's the establishment of a system where loyalty is rewarded and justice is for sale. The pardon of Changpeng Zhao isn't an anomaly; it's the business model. It’s a flashing neon sign for every other financial operator out there that as long as you play ball and cut the right people in, pleading guilty is just a step in the process, not the end of the road. The swamp wasn't drained; it was just opened up to a whole new clientele.