Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

Nature of CZ’s Offense and Case

• Several commenters stress that Zhao was not convicted of fraud or direct money laundering, but of violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to implement effective KYC/AML controls for Binance’s U.S. business.
• Defenders call it a “technical compliance” case, note the 4‑month sentence and lack of proven specific laundering transactions in court, and argue big banks usually pay fines, not see CEOs jailed.
• Critics respond that AML rules are not a technicality: Binance allegedly ignored internal compliance warnings and profited from criminal flows; failure to prevent laundering is itself the crime.

Perceived Quid Pro Quo and Open Corruption

• Central reaction: the pardon is seen as transactional. Zhao and Binance are tied in the article and other coverage to the Trump family’s crypto venture and a large increase in Trump’s wealth.
• Many frame this as outright bribery or “selling pardons,” lumped with other high-profile clemency actions for political allies and donors.
• Some argue this normalizes U.S. corruption to “banana republic” levels and signals that rich offenders can buy impunity.

Crypto, Laundering, and Double Standards

• A large faction treats crypto as structurally intertwined with fraud, sanctions evasion, and ransomware, and sees the pardon as further delegitimizing the space.
• Others argue the U.S. selectively enforces AML laws against crypto while traditional banks with similar or worse violations escape with fines, calling out apparent double standards.
• A minority cast the prosecution itself as part of a “war on crypto” and even as ethnic or political persecution; this is strongly contested in replies.

Pardon Power and Rule-of-Law Concerns

• Many say this illustrates dangerous presidential pardon powers: effectively unchecked, used for cronies, and now arguably as part of pay‑for‑play.
• Proposals include abolishing or radically constraining federal pardons, shifting them to Congress or adding judicial review; others warn that pardons are sometimes needed to correct injustices.
• The pardon is discussed alongside recent Supreme Court rulings on presidential immunity, creating a sense that legal accountability for the executive is collapsing and impeachment is the only (weak) check.

Comparisons, Whataboutism, and Systemic Cynicism

• Thread repeatedly compares this to non-prosecution of 2008 bankers, Clinton’s Marc Rich pardon, and Biden’s sweeping family and low-level drug pardons.
• Some use these to argue “both sides are corrupt”; others label this whataboutism that obscures the scale and brazenness of current behavior.
• Broader anxiety emerges about the U.S. drifting toward authoritarianism, structural flaws (Electoral College, Senate, gerrymandering, Citizens United), and a public numbed or misinformed by partisan media and social networks.