- President Donald Trump pardoned several high-profile crypto figures in 2025, shifting federal enforcement toward the industry.
- The clemency included Ross Ulbricht, co-founders and an executive from Bitmex, and Changpeng Zhao of Binance.
- The pardons fulfilled a 2024 campaign promise to end what Trump called the “war on crypto.”
- Critics tied the moves to political favoritism and alleged links between the administration and Trump family ventures.
- The decisions erased felony records for some defendants and set up new federal policy disputes over crypto regulation.
In 2025, President Donald Trump used his pardon power to clear several major crypto defendants, including Ross Ulbricht in January, BitMEX co-founders and an early employee in March, and Changpeng Zhao in October, saying the action answered his 2024 pledge to end the “war on crypto.” “Politics drove this case,” Trump wrote on his social feed and called past enforcement “ridiculous.” The moves changed Washington’s enforcement posture toward digital assets.
Ross Ulbricht had served more than ten years of two life terms for running the Silk Road dark-web market and related money-laundering and narcotics convictions tied to Bitcoin. Ulbricht later attended Bitcoin 2025 and told attendees, “Just a few months ago, I was trapped behind those prison walls… now I’m free, and it’s because of you,” crediting the pardon. Representative Thomas Massie praised the decision on X.
In March, Trump pardoned BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed, plus early employee Greg Dwyer. The group had pleaded guilty in 2022 to Bank Secrecy Act violations for failing to install anti-money-laundering controls, received probation and fines, and saw their felony records cleared by the pardons. Hayes thanked the president afterward.
The October pardon of Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to anti-money-laundering violations in November 2023 and served four months in 2024, drew the sharpest criticism. The White House framed the move as an end to the previous administration’s crypto enforcement. Critics, including Senator Chris Murphy, alleged influence tied to a Trump-linked stablecoin and a $2 billion Abu Dhabi deal; Senator Elizabeth Warren called the pardon corrupt and issued a statement condemning the action.
Zhao posted that he felt “deep gratitude” after the pardon and has not returned to a leadership role at Binance. Supporters said the president kept his promise to ease pressure on the industry, while critics warned the pardons blurred lines between policy and personal ties, creating new disputes over federal crypto regulation. CZ’s post thanked the president publicly.
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