Binance CEO Richard Teng denied reviews 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 alternate, was discussing promoting an fairness curiosity to Trump-affiliated enterprise entities, together with a potential cope with World Liberty Monetary, the Trump household’s decentralized finance (DeFi) undertaking.
“I consider 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 through 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 totally different animals, proper? They’ve totally different set of shareholders, they’ve totally different board of administrators and totally different CEO operating the present,” he mentioned.
Nonetheless, Teng did reward Trump, saying that Binance has benefited from the president’s “pro-crypto” insurance policies regardless of circuitously 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 should power governments around the globe […] to have a look at this house fairly significantly.”
In a departure from his predecessor, Joe Biden, Trump has mentioned he desires 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 type the Trump household stake would take if the deal comes collectively or whether or not it could be contingent on a pardon,” the report mentioned.
Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency alternate, 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 submit on Fact 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 fashioned for the first function of ‘screwing’ the USA 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, consultants have mentioned.
Journal: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions