Binance CEO Richard Teng denied stories that Binance.US was in deal talks with entities affiliated with US President Donald Trump throughout a March 18 panel at Blockworks’ 2025 Digital Asset Summit in New York.
Teng’s assertion reiterated the place taken by Binance’s founder, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, and Trump, each of whom denied the story final week.
On March 13, The Wall Avenue Journal reported that Binance.US, an independently-operated US cryptocurrency change, was discussing promoting an fairness curiosity to Trump-affiliated enterprise entities, together with a attainable cope with World Liberty Monetary, the Trump household’s decentralized finance (DeFi) mission.
“I imagine each World Liberty Monetary in addition to CZ himself have tweeted and denied the reforms, proper? In order that there’s actually nothing else so as to add,” Teng mentioned in the course of the summit, which was attended by Cointelegraph.
Richard Teng talking at Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit in New York. Supply: Cointelegraph
Associated: Donald Trump’s memecoin generated $350M for creators: Report
Teng said that Binance.US is legally and operationally distinct from its bigger namesake.
“US and dotcom are fairly completely different animals, proper? They've completely different set of shareholders, they've completely different board of administrators and completely different CEO working the present,” he mentioned.
Nonetheless, Teng did reward Trump, saying that Binance has benefited from the president’s “pro-crypto” insurance policies regardless of indirectly working within the US.
“Final yr was a landmark yr in that establishments are lastly approaching board,” Teng mentioned.
“With President Trump popping out with each [a] strategic crypto reserve or asset stockpile, it is going to pressure governments around the globe […] to have a look at this area fairly critically.”
In a departure from his predecessor, Joe Biden, Trump has mentioned he needs to make America the “world’s crypto capital” and has appointed pro-industry management to key regulatory posts.
Supply: CZ
Potential conflicts of curiosity
Citing sources conversant in the matter, The Wall Avenue Journal report talked about that CZ — who served four months in prison in the US — has been pushing for the Trump administration to grant him a pardon.
“It's unclear what kind the Trump household stake would take if the deal comes collectively or whether or not it will be contingent on a pardon,” the report mentioned.
Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency change, however Binance.US lags Coinbase within the US market.
CZ denied the report in an X post revealed the identical day. Trump additionally denied the report in a publish on Reality Social, his social media platform.
“The Globalist Wall Avenue Journal has no concept what they're doing or saying. They're owned by the polluted pondering of the European Union, which was shaped for the first objective of ‘screwing’ america of America,” the president wrote.
Trump’s Jan. 18 memecoin launch and his ties to crypto agency World Liberty Monetary have upturned norms for US presidents and raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest, specialists have mentioned.
Journal: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
