Binance Coded Trump-Backed Stablecoin USD1 Amid CZ’s Pardon Bid
Trump’s stablecoin USD1 was coded by Binance engineers in a confidential deal before CZ applied for a presidential pardon, raising questions about timing and ethics.
Binance provided behind-the-scenes coding support for USD1, as reported by Bloomberg, citing three people familiar with the private arrangement. The exchange's engineers wrote the basic smart-contract code that handles the creation and transactions of the dollar-backed stablecoin launched by the Trump-linked company World Liberty Financial. The coding work was kept confidential and only disclosed by anonymous sources.
About months later, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) publicly confirmed he applied for a presidential pardon from Donald Trump.
We have never had this since the Civil War: a president whose personal financial interests conflicted with his official duties,
said Richard Painter, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School.
Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, pleaded guilty in 2023 to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. He was sentenced to four months in prison and subsequently spent time in a federal halfway house before applying for a pardon. The sequence has raised questions about whether Zhao sought legal relief after helping the president's business interests.
World Liberty Financial announced USD1 in March 2025. The company was co-founded in 2024 by Zach Witkoff and business associates; the Trump family is a majority shareholder rather than the sole founder. The token is backed by U.S. Treasuries, dollars and other cash equivalents.
In May 2025, MGX Fund Management Limited, a sovereign investment vehicle owned by the Abu Dhabi government, used USD1 to invest $2 billion in Binance. The deal represents one of the largest stablecoin transactions and further connects Binance's business with the Trump family venture.
The arrangement has drawn criticism from ethics experts who warn about conflicts when a sitting president's business could benefit from federal decisions. The relationship between Binance's technical support and Zhao's subsequent pardon application has prompted scrutiny about the timing and motivations behind both actions.
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