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Hours after receiving a pardon from President Donald Trump, Binance Holdings Ltd.’s billionaire co-founder Changpeng Zhao issued a thank-you message mid-flight — and signaled his renewed ambitions for the world’s largest crypto exchange.

“Deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice,” Zhao posted on X. “Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto and advance web3 worldwide.”

The pardon — almost two years after Zhao pleaded guilty to failing to prevent money laundering and resigned as CEO of Binance — caps a remarkable comeback for the 48-year-old.

It also frees Zhao to refocus on the ultimate prize: reclaiming ground in the American market, now central to crypto’s institutional surge and one of the last major arenas where Binance has yet to dominate.

“The effect of a presidential pardon is rather sweeping,” said Jonathan Groth, a partner at DGIM Law. “It appears that CZ can now re-engage and be more involved with Binance and or its subsidiaries and other ventures.”

The timing is pointed. Trump has leveraged his political platform to champion digital assets, and his family has profited handsomely from the sector. Binance recently helped one Trump-linked firm launch a stablecoin project expected to yield tens of millions annually, an arrangement drawing fire from Democrats who cite the pardon as part of widening conflicts of interest.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Thursday when asked about accusations that the pardon amounted to a corrupt bargain that the decision was “thoroughly reviewed” by White House lawyers.

Now industry observers say the pardon could reopen the path for Zhao to take on leadership roles and make it easier for Binance to consolidate its US operations, although it must still navigate regulatory hurdles. Its American affiliate, Binance.US, operates with limited reach and remains structurally separate from the global exchange.

The company is considering a range of options including consolidating Binance.US into its global operation or having its global exchange enter the US market, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named as the discussions were private.

“This cycle is largely being driven by US institutional investors and investment products, and that’s precisely where Binance can now shift its focus,” said Markus Thielen, chief executive officer of 10x Research. The firm’s US affiliate “will likely be reintegrated into the global Binance ecosystem, giving US investors direct access to the platform’s deep liquidity and comprehensive derivatives offerings,” he added.

The clearest signal of Zhao’s market clout and investor confidence in his political resurgence came quickly: BNB, the native token of Binance’s blockchain network, surged as much as 8% on Thursday after news of the pardon.

Zhao, known as CZ, has a net worth of $58 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In addition to his Binance ownership, he also wields influence over its blockchain ecosystem, built around BNB. His family office, YZi Labs, has backed several BNB-linked treasury projects. One of the BNB blockchains now hosts roughly $8.7 billion in assets and ranks third behind Ethereum and Solana.

With regulatory and political winds shifting, Zhao has begun to reassert his presence. He’s publicly backed Aster, a decentralized exchange challenging Hyperliquid, and is building an education app.

He’s also been actively accumulating political capital abroad. After his release in September 2024, Zhao reappeared quickly, meeting startups, posting workouts, and reconnecting with allies. This year alone, he’s met with leaders like Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, joined blockchain advisory councils in Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan, and pushed crypto adoption from Dubai to Islamabad.

At conferences, Zhao dropped casual references to his prison stint. But behind the scenes, he was working on something more consequential: securing a presidential pardon that would clear the way for him to return to high-stakes financial ventures. “I am still young,” Zhao, 48, said on stage at Token2049 in Dubai five months ago. “I can’t play golf all day, you still have to do stuff.” He added that he’d been doing eight to 10 meetings daily.

Attention is turning to whether Zhao will try to reclaim the role he stepped away from. In recent weeks, he updated his X profile from “ex-Binance” to simply “@Binance” — a subtle move that stoked speculation. Richard Teng, a 55-year-old Singaporean, has run Binance since Zhao resigned.

Not everyone thinks he’s eager to return as CEO. “I think he is operating with more of a weight off his shoulders not running the exchange,” said David Namdar, who runs a BNB treasury company backed by Zhao’s family office. “I’d be surprised if he stepped back into running it again.”

Binance and YZi Labs, the family office, didn’t respond to questions about whether he plans to become CEO.

Even with Zhao’s newfound political alignment, the US market presents a profound challenge.

In the US, Zhao is a shareholder of Binance.US, which has its own leadership and staff, and US investors are blocked from trading on its global marketplace. Binance handles close to 50% of global Bitcoin trading, according to analytics firm Kaiko; for Binance.US, that share is less than 1%.

In the US, Coinbase Global Inc. enjoys a position similar to that of Binance in the rest of the world, Kaiko data show.

“Coinbase has first-mover advantage and is a trusted platform in the US,” said Owen Lau, an analyst at Clear Street. Binance, meanwhile, has a long track record of undercutting rivals with aggressive pricing and promotions.

Patrick Horsman, chief investment officer of digital-asset treasury firm Applied DNA Sciences, which invests in BNB, said Binance’s technology, liquidity and relatively low fees will see it become “a dominant powerhouse in the American crypto market.”

For all its competitive strengths, Binance has had its own share of operational stumbles. The exchange was hit particularly hard during a recent crypto selloff, suffering technical issues that led to billions in forced liquidations and forcing it to compensate some users. It has also drawn criticism over high token listing fees, sharpening scrutiny of its leadership without Zhao at the helm.

Yet the pardon may do more than revive Zhao’s personal prospects — it could also unlock new avenues for Binance’s global expansion. The firm holds minority stakes in affiliates across Asia, including Thailand and Malaysia, where regulatory regimes impose ownership suitability tests on major shareholders.

“A criminal conviction can pose a barrier for any individual seeking a beneficial ownership stake in a regulated or listed company,” said Chris Holland, partner at HM, a Singapore consulting firm.

Last week, South Korean authorities approved Binance’s acquisition of the local exchange GOPAX after more than two years of review, clearing the way for reentry into one of Asia’s most active markets.

Cosmo Jiang, general partner at Pantera, said he sees Zhao becoming “more involved with Binance’s operations” now that he’s been pardoned. “Whenever a founder returns to a company it’s always an invigorating moment, you typically see more growth, better execution.”

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