In 2025 President Donald Trump used his clemency power to overturn several of the highest-profile crypto prosecutions of the past decade, signaling a sharp political shift in Washington and reshaping how the federal government approaches digital-asset enforcement.
Quick timeline
- January 2025: Ross Ulbricht (Silk Road) — full pardon.
- March 2025: BitMEX principals Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, Samuel Reed, and early employee Greg Dwyer — pardons clearing felony records.
- October 2025: Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) — pardon after a 2023 guilty plea and a 2024 jail term.
What happened, and why it matters
Trump framed his interventions as corrective and political. Announcing the first pardon on Truth Social, he said “Politics drove this case” and criticized past enforcement as “ridiculous.” Supporters called the moves a rollback of what they view as overzealous federal pressure on crypto; critics see them as politicizing enforcement and weakening regulatory accountability for serious crimes.
The individual cases
- Ross Ulbricht: Pardoned in January after serving more than a decade of a sentence that included two life terms for operating Silk Road and for money‑laundering and narcotics convictions tied to Bitcoin transactions. The pardon fulfilled a long-standing promise to libertarian and Bitcoin supporters who backed the Free Ross campaign. Ulbricht later spoke at Bitcoin 2025, thanking supporters and noting Trump “did what he said he would.” Advocates hailed the pardon as overdue relief; former prosecutors and others argued it undermined a landmark cybercrime conviction.
- BitMEX executives: In March Trump pardoned co-founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed, along with early employee Greg Dwyer. All had pleaded guilty in 2022 to Bank Secrecy Act violations for failing to put in required anti‑money‑laundering controls; their original sentences included probation and financial penalties. The pardons wiped their felony records, a clear departure from the prior administration’s push to hold exchanges to strict compliance standards. Hayes publicly thanked Trump on social media.
- Changpeng Zhao (CZ): Perhaps the most politically fraught decision came in October, when Trump pardoned Binance founder CZ. Zhao had pleaded guilty in November 2023 to anti‑money‑laundering violations and served a four‑month sentence in 2024. The White House cast the pardon as an end to “the Biden administration’s war on crypto.” Critics, including Senator Chris Murphy, alleged Binance sought to influence administration policy, pointing to ties like a Trump‑linked stablecoin (USD1) and a $2 billion Abu Dhabi deal—claims that have not been proven but have intensified scrutiny of links between the administration and Trump family business World Liberty Financial. On 60 Minutes, Trump denied personal ties to Zhao, calling him “a respected guy” and “the victim of a Biden witch hunt.” Zhao expressed “deep gratitude” on X but has not resumed a leadership role at Binance.
Reactions and implications
The pardons split opinion along political and regulatory lines. Supporters said Trump honored campaign promises to ease federal pressure on crypto businesses. Critics warned the decisions blurred the line between policy and political loyalty and risked eroding enforcement tools used to fight money laundering and cybercrime. Senator Elizabeth Warren accused Zhao of lobbying for a pardon after boosting a Trump crypto venture, calling for congressional action as market‑structure legislation moved forward.
What comes next
Collectively, these clemencies reset the federal posture on crypto enforcement in 2025 and set the stage for fresh battles over how aggressively the U.S. will regulate digital assets in 2026. Lawmakers, regulators and industry players now face renewed pressure to define where accountability, compliance and politics intersect in the evolving crypto landscape.
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