Trump family held deal talks with Binance’s US arm, WSJ reports

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(Reuters) -Representatives of President Donald Trump’s family have held talks to take a financial stake in the U.S. arm of crypto exchange Binance, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Binance’s billionaire founder Changpeng Zhao has been pushing for the Trump administration to grant him a pardon, the report added citing people familiar with the matter.

In November 2023, Zhao stepped down as CEO of Binance and pleaded guilty to breaking U.S. anti-money laundering laws as part of a $4.3 billion settlement, resolving a years-long probe into the world’s largest crypto exchange.

Binance had reached out to allies of Trump last year offering to strike a business deal with the family as part of a plan to return the exiled company to the U.S., according to the Journal’s report.

It is unclear what form the Trump family stake would take if the deal comes together or whether it would be contingent on a pardon, the report said.

Binance and representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order to establish a strategic reserve of cryptocurrencies by using tokens already owned by the government.

His moves to support the crypto industry, which spent millions of dollars backing him and other Republicans in the November election, have drawn conflict-of-interest concerns.

Trump’s family has launched cryptocurrency meme coins, while the U.S. president also holds a stake in crypto platform World Liberty Financial.

(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Krishna Chandra Eluri)