CZ’s Presidential Pardon Price Tag? Binance Hints at $700K Cost
The price of political forgiveness just got a market rate—and it's steeper than most altcoins.
Behind the Scenes of Billion-Dollar Deals
Binance's recent disclosures suggest founder Changpeng Zhao might have paid roughly $700,000 for presidential pardon considerations. That's pocket change compared to the $4.3 billion settlement the exchange paid regulators, but still enough to make your average politician's palms sweaty.
Legal experts are calling it the 'get out of jail free' card with a premium price tag—because apparently even presidential mercy comes with a processing fee these days.
The fine print nobody reads until it's too late—welcome to Washington's version of gas fees.
Because nothing says 'justice' like being able to afford a better class of it.
Trump Doubles Down on CZ Pardon Decision Following Backlash from Democrats
President Trump has gone on the defensive regarding his decision to pardon CZ, claiming that the Binance founder was “persecuted by the Biden administration” and that “what he did is not even a crime.”
This statement was made during a White House press conference in response to the criticism he has received, mainly from Democratic Party politicians.
Democratic Representative Maxine Waters condemned the pardon as “a massive favor for crypto criminals.” She argued that CZ’s guilty plea for anti-money laundering violations disqualified him from clemency and accused the administration of “selling justice to the highest bidder.”
Waters also alleged that the pardon was influenced by months of lobbying and financial support to Trump’s personal crypto company, World Liberty Financial, though this claim lacks documentation.
During the same press conference, Trump also highlighted cryptocurrency innovation as “the future of American finance”, further solidifying the US’s stance since the U-turn by Trump and his administration after Biden left office in January.
BREAKING: President Trump speaks about the pardon for CZ.
"They said, what he did is not even a crime, wasn't a crime… I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of good people." pic.twitter.com/abvBTaxkxl
— CoinDesk (@CoinDesk) October 23, 2025
BNB Price Analysis: New All-Time High Following CZ Pardon and Binance’s Strengthening Ties to Washington?
BNB remains one of the strongest-performing major-cap digital assets this year. Its fundamentals are rock-solid, as the native token of the BNB Smart Chain (BSC), which now holds over $8.8Bn in TVL (Total Value Locked), according to DeFiLlama.
Within the BSC ecosystem is a vast array of protocols, including meme coins, DeFi platforms, and more recently, its Perp DEX, Aster. The recent Maxwell upgrade for BSC has made navigating the blockchain even quicker, halving block times to 0.75 seconds.
It’s also worth noting that the BNB listing announcements by Robinhood and Coinbase both dropped last week, just days after BNB hit its all-time high of $1,375 on October 13. The listings came following BNB’s incredible rebound following October 10’s historic Black Swan market crash.
On a short-term timeframe, BNB has two significant sell walls to overcome, at $1,190 and $1,210. However, if these two levels can be breached, it will be a relatively straightforward run to a new all-time high above $1,370.
Looking at a higher timeframe, BNB could be set to break $2,000 by the end of 2025 if Bitcoin
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continues to hold above $105,000. Positive news surrounding China-US trade tensions offers a bullish platform for crypto to springboard into its next leg up.
(SOURCE: TradingView)
