President Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, the White House said Thursday. 

Zhao, who previously served as CEO of Binance, pleaded guilty to charges in 2023 for violating anti-money laundering laws. He was sentenced to four months in prison. 

“President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.  

“In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden Administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims,” she continued. “The Biden Administration sought to imprison Mr. Zhao for three years, a sentence so outside Sentencing Guidelines that the even the Judge said he had never heard of this in his 30-year career.” 

“These actions by the Biden Administration severely damaged the United States’ reputation as a global leader in technology and innovation,” Leavitt added. “The Biden Administration’s war on crypto is over.” 

Zhao stepped down as CEO of Binance following his guilty plea. The exchange also paid more than $4 billion to settle the case with the Justice Department. He served out his prison sentence and was released from U.S. custody last September. 

The Binance founder has reportedly been pressing the White House for a pardon in recent months, as the crypto industry has found a key ally in Trump and his administration. 

The crypto exchange has also engaged with the president’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial. In May, the Emirati firm MGX invested $2 billion in Binance using World Liberty Financial’s stablecoins. 

Trump’s pardon marks a sharp departure from the Biden administration, which had a largely contentious relationship with the industry. Crypto leaders took issue with the approach of former Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, who they accused of attempting to regulate the industry by enforcement.  

Trump, by contrast, has embraced the crypto world. Since taking office, he has hosted crypto leaders at the White House, created a strategic bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile and signed the first major crypto legislation into law. 

However, the president and his family’s personal involvement in the industry has also frequently created concerns about potential conflicts of interest or ethics violations. Trump and his sons launched a crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, last fall.  

Zhao’s pardon immediately faced pushback. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a longtime critic of the crypto industry, underscored the connection between Binance and the Trump family crypto venture.

“First, Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge. Then he boosted one of Donald Trump’s crypto ventures and lobbied for a pardon,” she said in a statement.

“Today, Donald Trump did his part and pardoned him,” Warren continued. “If Congress does not stop this kind of corruption in pending market structure legislation, it owns this lawlessness.”

The decision comes just one day after crypto executives met with senators on Capitol Hill in an effort to breathe new life into stalled negotiations over market structure legislation, which aims to provide a regulatory framework for the crypto industry.

Talks between Senate Republicans and crypto-friendly Democrats broke down in recent weeks, after a Democratic policy proposal was leaked and sparked an industry backlash.

The White House responded to concerns about Zhao’s pardon Wednesday, suggesting that Trump “is exercising his constitutional authority to grant clemency requests.”

“The president and the White House have a very thorough examination of every pardon request that comes across our desk,” Leavitt said at a press briefing.

“The president wants to correct this overreach of the Biden administration… There is nothing more corrupt than what President Biden did on his way out the door pardoning his son and his extremely corrupt associates,” she added.

Biden faced scrutiny in his final months in office over his use of the pardon power. The former president pardoned his son, Hunter, who was set to be sentenced over federal gun and tax charges. He also preemptively pardoned several other family members, lawmakers who served on the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and retired Gen. Mark Milley, among others.

Trump has also stirred controversy on this front, pardoning Jan. 6 defendants when he first took office and, more recently, commuting the sentence of former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.).

Updated at 2:55 p.m. EDT.