Executives from cryptocurrency exchange Binance met with Treasury Department officials last month and discussed loosening U.S. government oversight on the company, while it was also exploring a business deal with a Trump family crypto venture, according to people familiar with the talks.

The Binance executives asked Treasury officials in Washington to remove a U.S. monitor that oversees the exchange’s compliance with anti-money-laundering laws, some of the people said. The move would mark a first step toward returning the company, which in 2023 pleaded guilty to violating those laws, to the U.S. market.

Binance has also been in talks to list a new dollar-pegged cryptocurrency from World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture backed by President Trump’s family, other people familiar with the discussions said. Listing the token, known as a stablecoin, could catapult it into a huge market and potentially bring in billions in profit for the family.

Those dealings mark the progression of a growing alliance between the Trump family and Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, which paid a record $4.3 billion fine for allowing terrorists, drug traffickers and sanctioned actors to move billions of dollars through its exchange. The Treasury talks took place after Binance had already begun discussing deals with representatives of the Trump family.

For World Liberty, Binance’s market power could help turn it into a serious player in the crypto industry. Binance has more than 250 million users and processes some $65 billion in trades a day. 

The more of its USD1 stablecoins in circulation, the more the Trump family could profit from the assets underpinning the token’s value. Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, reported $13 billion in profit last year.

For Binance, Trump’s presidential power could help free the company of its legal woes. The company’s 2023 agreement with U.S. authorities placed onerous restrictions on the once freewheeling exchange, requiring it to remove all of its American customers, report all previous suspicious transactions, and cooperate with two independent monitors appointed by the Treasury and Justice departments last May to serve for five and three years, respectively.

Binance is also seeking a pardon for its convicted founder, Changpeng Zhao, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. Zhao served four months in prison last year after pleading guilty to related charges, and a pardon would make it easier for the company to return to the U.S.

Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao leaving his court sentencing last year. Photo: jason redmond/AFP/Getty Images

Trump family representatives also held talks with Binance about taking a stake in Binance.US, the company’s moribund U.S. arm that operates separately from the larger exchange, the Journal reported last month.  

A Treasury official said the Binance meeting was one of dozens of meetings the agency has been taking with the crypto industry. A World Liberty spokeswoman said the company’s goal is to make USD1 “accessible for millions globally.” 

Zhao declined to comment through a Binance spokesperson. Last month, Zhao said on X that he had no business deals with World Liberty and hadn’t discussed a Binance.US deal with anyone. He added, “No felon would mind a pardon.”

“It is inspiring to see the incredible momentum behind the re-energized U.S. crypto movement under the new administration and Congress,” Binance’s spokesperson said. “We are eager to support any government seeking to balance innovation with user protections in digital asset regulation.”

A White House spokesman said it doesn’t disclose who is or isn’t under consideration for a pardon.

‘Ending Regulation by Prosecution’

The alliance between the Trumps and Binance stems from an Abu Dhabi crypto conference last December, weeks before the inauguration. In the “Whale Only” backroom, accessible to attendees who had paid $10,000 for a VIP pass, Zhao mingled with Trump’s son, Eric, and Trump allies including incoming Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, attendees said. Witkoff told guests he would champion crypto in the new administration. 

Eric was there to tout the coming of a digital-currency golden age under his father and to promote World Liberty, which the Trumps had co-founded with Witkoff and his sons months earlier. The conference offered a 21% discount on tickets using the code “TRUMPPUMP21.” A spokeswoman for Eric and the Trump Organization didn’t respond to requests for comment. 

Co-founders of World Liberty Financial on stage, from second left: Chase Herro, Zach Witkoff and Zak Folkman. Donald Trump Jr. is on screen. Photo: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg News

Zhao, who by then was pursuing a pardon, complained in public remarks that the U.S. had been too heavy-handed with the crypto industry. “You want to stop regulation by enforcement,” he said.

The business talks over the Binance.US stake and USD1 stablecoin ramped up in the months that followed the conference, people familiar with the discussions said.

The Trump administration swiftly made progress on loosening regulations on crypto. In recent weeks, the Justice Department paused its corporate monitorships and disbanded its cryptocurrency unit—which had helped bring the 2023 case against Binance—announcing the latter move in a memo titled, “Ending Regulation by Prosecution.”

Binance still has to deal with its Treasury-appointed monitor, which is regarded as more burdensome, according to people familiar with the arrangement.

Binance executives have clashed with the Treasury monitor and, to a lesser extent, the Justice monitor, over the monitors’ access to the company, including their ability to interview employees and review documents, the people said.

In their meeting with Treasury last month, Binance Chief Executive Richard Teng and Chief Legal Officer Eleanor Hughes requested that the agency remove the monitorship or reduce its duration and scope, people familiar with the meeting said. 

Binance executives are optimistic the Trump administration will acquiesce. The exchange’s staff have been discussing changes to its anti-money-laundering controls that were viewed by some employees as an effort to loosen its checks on riskier customers, people familiar with the talks said. 

The Binance spokesperson said the monitors led to “inefficient and costly burdens.” Binance is “in the process of fine-tuning the rules but there is no loosening of controls,” he added.

A string of crypto felons

Binance began reaching out to Trump allies around the time of the 2024 election, people familiar with the discussions said. It set up internal task forces to explore a U.S. return under Trump and a pardon for Zhao, known as CZ.

Zhao had connections to the World Liberty team even before the December conference. Witkoff’s son, Zach, has hailed Zhao as a “wise man” on X. In October, World Liberty hired one of Zhao’s close friends, Rich Teo, who petitioned the judge overseeing the Binance owner’s case for leniency, to help launch its stablecoin. 

The World Liberty spokeswoman said that “nearly every leading firm in the digital-asset industry interacts with Binance,” and added, “We are grateful for CZ’s many contributions to the cryptocurrency industry and perhaps even more for his philanthropic endeavors.”

The Trump family’s embrace of Binance captures a strange dynamic in the White House. The crypto tycoons that previous administrations pursued for helping the U.S. government’s foes move their funds—Russian sanctions evaders, Islamic terrorist groups, Mexican drug cartels, global fraud rings—are now doing business with the president and members of his inner circle.

Trump has already pardoned a string of crypto felons, including BitMEX exchange co-founder Arthur Hayes, who pleaded guilty to violating the same U.S. anti-money-laundering law as Zhao.

The SEC has asked a court to pause a fraud lawsuit against Justin Sun after the crypto entrepreneur invested $75 million into World Liberty’s token. Photo: Keith Tsuji for WSJ

Justin Sun, founder of the Tron blockchain network, is World Liberty’s largest outside investor and advises the company. More than half of all illicit crypto activity last year—some $26 billion—took place on Tron, blockchain researcher TRM Labs estimates.

In February, after he invested $75 million into World Liberty’s token, the Securities and Exchange Commission asked a court to pause a fraud lawsuit against Sun.

Under the Biden administration, the Justice Department had been investigating Sun for suspected financial crimes, people familiar with the case said. It couldn’t be learned whether the inquiry is ongoing.

As part of Zhao’s plea deal, he agreed to give evidence on Sun to prosecutors, some of the people said. That arrangement hasn’t previously been reported. The Justice Department declined to comment.

A representative for Sun declined to comment on “baseless allegations about legal matters” and said it was false to suggest that Tron enables criminal activity.

In December, Sun, too, had mingled with VIPs in the backroom of the Abu Dhabi conference, handing out miniature versions of a $6 million banana artwork he had recently bought.