Okay, so Trump pardons Changpeng Zhao, aka "CZ," the Binance dude who pleaded guilty to, you know, enabling money laundering. Then, when asked about it on 60 Minutes, he pulls the "I don't know him" card? Give me a freakin' break. 'I don't know who he is,' says Trump after pardoning crypto tycoon
Trump claims he was told CZ was a "victim of a witch hunt" by Biden. Right. Because that's how pardons work. You just blindly trust what some random person tells you and sign away, especially when it involves a guy who admitted to letting criminals wash their dirty money through his crypto exchange.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House Press Secretary, doubled down, calling the prosecution a "war on cryptocurrency." Oh, please. Last time I checked, prosecuting money laundering wasn't about hating Bitcoin. It's about, you know, stopping criminals. But offcourse, nuance is dead in the water when it comes to politics these days.
And let's be real, "witch hunt" is Trump's go-to excuse for everything he doesn't like. It's like a verbal get-out-of-jail-free card.
Here's the part that really stinks. CZ's companies have partnered with firms linked to Trump, including Dominari Holdings, where Trump's sons are on the advisory board. World Liberty Financial, another Trump-linked crypto venture, even had a stablecoin that was supposed to be used in a $2 billion investment in Binance. Coincidence? I think not.
It's the same old story: swamp creatures helping each other out. You scratch my back (with some sweet crypto deals), I'll scratch yours (with a pardon).
Trump also pardoned founders of BitMEX (more money laundering charges!) and Ross Ulbricht of Silk Road fame. See a pattern here? It's like he's running a one-man pardon-palooza for the crypto underworld.
I wonder if anyone bothered to ask Trump's sons what they thought about the CZ pardon? Or maybe they were too busy counting their crypto profits...
Trump also threw in the obligatory "China" angle, saying the US needs to be a leader in crypto or risk China gaining an advantage. As if pardoning a guy who pled guilty to money laundering is going to somehow boost American crypto innovation. It's more likely to make us look like a haven for shady operators.
It's like saying we need to start cheating at baseball to beat the Chinese team. Does that make any sense?
And this whole "China is winning" narrative is getting old. Yeah, they're a competitor, but we don't need to compromise our values to compete. Or...do we? Am I just being naive here? Maybe I'm expecting too much from politicians.
This ain't about justice; it's about payback, plain and simple. Trump's cronies got a sweet deal, and now CZ gets a free pass. The whole thing stinks like a wet dog in July.
