Written by: J1N, Techub News
Last night, Hong Kong time, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that the Trump family had negotiated with Binance.US about acquiring shares. At the same time, people familiar with the matter revealed that Binance founder Zhao Changpeng has been seeking a pardon from the Trump administration. This news quickly sparked widespread discussion in the cryptocurrency circle, and the price of BNB rose from 576 USDT to 613 USDT in a short period of time, an increase of about 21% from the intraday low. However, a few hours later, Zhao Changpeng tweeted to refute the rumor, saying that WSJ distorted the facts and said that he had never discussed the equity transaction of Binance.US with anyone.
WSJ and Bloomberg reveal: The political and business game behind the secret talks between the Trump family and Binance
According to WSJ, representatives of US President Trump's family recently held equity negotiations with Binance.US. This move is considered an important step for Binance to return to the US market. The negotiations originated from Binance's initiative to contact Trump's allies last year, hoping to reach a business cooperation with the Trump family and use its political and business influence to promote Binance's re-entry into the United States. It is not clear how the Trump family's investment will be presented if the final deal is reached. Possible ways include the Trump family directly holding shares or indirectly holding shares through World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company founded by it.
At the same time, people familiar with the matter revealed that Zhao Changpeng is also actively seeking a pardon from the Trump administration. Previously, Zhao Changpeng was imprisoned for four months for violating US anti-money laundering regulations. Although he has resigned as CEO of Binance, he is still the largest shareholder of Binance. Analysts pointed out that if Zhao Changpeng is pardoned, it will greatly facilitate Binance's business expansion in the United States and around the world.
In addition to the WSJ revelations, Bloomberg also quoted four people familiar with the matter as saying that Trump's crypto project WLFI had secretly met and negotiated with Binance, and the negotiations also included the possibility of jointly developing a US dollar stablecoin.
Binance has long been accused of not strictly complying with U.S. anti-money laundering regulations, and even suspected of having financial dealings with organizations sanctioned by the United States, which has almost brought Binance's business in the United States to a standstill. In order to get out of trouble, Binance has recently been seeking to reshape its compliance image and repair its relationship with regulators. Just the day before, Binance just announced that it had received a $2 billion investment from MGX, a national investment institution of the United Arab Emirates, making MGX the first institutional investor of Binance. This investment is Binance's first institutional investment to date and the largest single investment in a cryptocurrency company.
Zhao Changpeng denies cooperation with Trump family, Trump criticizes WSJ for ulterior motives
In response to the WSJ revelations, Zhao Changpeng quickly responded on X. He explicitly denied the content of the report, saying that he had never discussed the Binance.US transaction with anyone. In his response, he said: "No one who is convicted will refuse pardon. But the fact is that I have not negotiated any transaction between Binance.US and the Trump family." He further stated that the report may be the result of some forces trying to attack President Trump and the remnants of the entire cryptocurrency industry, and emphasized that he has been committed to making the cryptocurrency industry stronger globally.
Similarly, Trump, who was the target of the revelations, responded quickly and fiercely. He severely criticized WSJ on Truth Social, saying that the media's reports were outdated and hostile, and that it was a malicious attack against the United States. He also pointed the finger at the media's European inclinations, saying that it was subject to foreign forces that were trying to weaken the United States.
Coincidence or deliberate? Why has Binance been repeatedly targeted by European and American media?
It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time that European and American media have reported on Binance. For a long time, authoritative media such as WSJ and Reuters have continued to pay attention to negative news about Binance, especially when Binance involves regulatory issues or major business developments, they are always able to quickly follow up on related reports and cause widespread discussion.
For example, after Binance added support for Trump family Memecoin TRUMP in late January, Reuters subsequently broke the news that "French investigators launched a judicial investigation into Binance, involving multiple charges including money laundering"; similarly, after Binance executives reiterated that Nigerian lawmakers had demanded a $150 million bribe in exchange for dropping the lawsuit, Reuters subsequently broke the news that "Binance was sued by the authorities for illegal operations in Nigeria, demanding it to compensate for more than $79 billion in economic losses and $2 billion in back taxes." And so on.
The timing of this report was also quite coincidental. Just after Binance announced that it had received a major investment of US$2 billion from the UAE sovereign fund MGX, several authoritative US media immediately broke the news that Binance was secretly negotiating with the Trump family, which made people wonder whether there was some targeted strategy or more complex interest game behind it.
As a long-term strategic partner of the United States and one of the world's largest oil producers, the UAE's support for the dollar as a settlement currency has helped the United States maintain its position in the international settlement currency. However, in recent years, the deepening of the UAE's cooperation with China and Russia, as well as its exploration of the use of the RMB as an oil settlement currency, have made the United States feel a sense of crisis.
Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported the day after Binance officially announced that it had received investment from MGX that the Trump family was interested in acquiring a stake in Binance, which would undoubtedly lead to a certain degree of rift. Such "precise sniping" is a political game between American parties, or it is true, but since the negotiations are in the early stages and both parties are unwilling to disclose more information, it remains to be seen.
