Binance CEO reiterates denial of Trump family deal talks

Binance CEO Richard Teng denied reports that Binance.US was in deal talks with entities affiliated with US President Donald Trump during a March 18 panel at Blockworks’ 2025 Digital Asset Summit in New York.

Teng’s statement reiterated the position taken by Binance’s founder, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, and Trump, both of whom denied the story last week.

On March 13, The Wall Street Journal reported that Binance.US, an independently-operated US cryptocurrency exchange, was discussing selling an equity interest to Trump-affiliated business entities, including a possible deal with World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s decentralized finance (DeFi) project. 

“I believe both World Liberty Financial as well as CZ himself have tweeted and denied the reforms, right? So that there’s really nothing else to add,” Teng said during the summit, which was attended by Cointelegraph. 

Richard Teng speaking at Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit in New York. Source: Cointelegraph

Related: Donald Trump’s memecoin generated $350M for creators: Report

Teng stated that Binance.US is legally and operationally distinct from its larger namesake. 

“US and dotcom are quite different animals, right? They have different set of shareholders, they have different board of directors and different CEO running the show,” he said. 

However, Teng did praise Trump, saying that Binance has benefited from the president’s “pro-crypto” policies despite not directly operating in the US. 

“Last year was a landmark year in that institutions are finally coming on board,” Teng said. 

In a departure from his predecessor, Joe Biden, Trump has said he wants to make America the “world’s crypto capital” and has appointed pro-industry leadership to key regulatory posts.

Source: CZ

Citing sources familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal report mentioned that CZ — who served four months in prison in the US — has been pushing for the Trump administration to grant him a pardon.

“It is unclear what form the Trump family stake would take if the deal comes together or whether it would be contingent on a pardon,” the report said.

Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, but Binance.US lags Coinbase in the US market. 

CZ denied the report in an X post published the same day. Trump also denied the report in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform. 

“The Globalist Wall Street Journal has no idea what they are doing or saying. They are owned by the polluted thinking of the European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of ‘screwing’ the United States of America,” the president wrote.

Trump’s Jan. 18 memecoin launch and his ties to crypto firm World Liberty Financial have upturned norms for US presidents and raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest, experts have said. 

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions