Alright, let's get one thing straight: the Binance-Trump-crypto connection smells worse than week-old gym socks. I mean, seriously, a presidential pardon tied to a stablecoin backed by the Trump family? You can't make this stuff up.
Richard Teng, the Binance CEO, is out here denying claims that they boosted Trump's USD1 stablecoin before CZ (Changpeng Zhao) got that sweet, sweet pardon. He says it was MGX, some Abu Dhabi investment firm, that decided to use USD1 for their $2 billion investment in Binance. Right. And I'm the Queen of England.
Teng claims USD1 was already listed on other exchanges before Binance got their hands on it. Okay, fine. But The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Binance helped settle MGX’s investment using USD1 and even helped build the damn tech behind the stablecoin. So, which is it? Were they just innocent bystanders, or were they in bed with the whole operation?
And then there's this gem from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who whined that Zhao was prosecuted "despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims." Seriously? He pled guilty to enabling money laundering! Give me a break.
Trump himself said he pardoned Zhao "at the request of a lot of very good people" and that he knew nothing about him. Sure, Donny. Just like you knew nothing about Stormy Daniels, right?
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling the whole thing corrupt, saying CZ boosted Trump's crypto venture and then lobbied for a pardon. Donald Trump Jr., of course, is dismissing any concerns about conflicts of interest. Because why would the Trump family ever be involved in anything shady?
CZ stepped down as Binance chief in 2023 after admitting he let money laundering happen on his platform. But he's still the major shareholder, so let's not pretend he's out of the picture. World Liberty Financial, the outfit behind USD1, says that DT Marks DEFI LLC, a Trump-affiliated firm, gets a big cut of the revenue and holds the digital tokens backing the company. They also swear up and down that Trump himself isn't involved. Uh huh.
Here's where it gets extra spicy: MGX’s $2 billion USD1 purchase happened two weeks before the White House signed a big deal with the U.A.E. on access to American microchips. Coincidence? Maybe. But it's the kind of coincidence that makes you raise an eyebrow so high it gets stuck there.
Since getting back into the political game, Trump's been all about crypto, proposing new legislation and rolling back enforcement actions that targeted exchanges like Coinbase and Ripple. I wonder why? Could it be that he sees crypto as a way to line his own pockets? Nah, couldn't be.
Teng had the nerve to say that Binance and the crypto industry "were very thankful" to Trump for CZ’s pardon and for signaling that the U.S. will be the “global crypto capital of the world.” Global crypto capital? More like the global capital of crypto scams.
I mean, what is this, some kind of banana republic where favors are traded for pardons and stablecoins are used to grease the wheels of corruption?
Honestly, I don't know. Maybe I'm just too cynical. Maybe this is all just a series of unfortunate coincidences. But something tells me there's a lot more to this story than we're being told. The fact is, the lines between politics, finance, and crypto are getting blurrier every day, and that's not a good thing for anyone except the people at the top. It's like watching a slow-motion train wreck, and all we can do is sit back and wait for the explosion. Or maybe I'm wrong, and everything's fine. Yeah, right.
