In short
- President Donald Trump has already granted grace to remarkable crypto personalities.
- Some others openly campaigning for their own, or are allegedly looking for them through private channels.
- The growing list contains Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and reportedly also FTX founder Sam Bankman-Gefrieduurd.
President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto actions have ushered in a more favorable regime regime and enforcement regime.
In the campaign for his second term, the president promised to forgive grace Silk Road Creator Ross UlbrichtA vow he loved …Grant a grace to the Bitcoin icon In his first days in office, after more than a decade of prison for money because of money wed and conspiracy to traffic narcotics.
Two months later also Trump Pardon granted to Arthur Hayes and his co-founders of Bitmex, Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed-Benam with the former Bitmex employee Gregory Dwyer, and even the company itself.
That grace has given hope to other remarkable personalities of the crypto atmosphere, which in some cases immediately submit the president for a pardon. Here is the growing list of convicted crypto founders who are looking for the lighting of Trump.
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao
Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said in an exclusive interview with Decrypts Sister company Rug Radio that he had lawyers who applied for a grace.
In the interview, Zhao rejected that claims Popped up at the beginning of 2025“ claiming that he wanted to exchange Binance.us equity for a grace after he had completed his four -month prison sentence Money laundering from violations.
“There are many news items that say that I am trying to exchange Binance.us equity for a grace,” said Zhao. “That is not true at all. I have had zero discussions about Binance.us equity with someone.”
On the contrary, Zhao said that he is looking for the legal path looking for a grace, so that lawyers register a few weeks a few weeks before his interview in Token2049 at the end of April.
“If they write these articles, we might as well apply, right?” He said, adding that he would “certainly not find” a grace.
Sam Bankman Fried
Prisoner FTX-MEDE founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, is reportedly campaign for a grace of the president.
SBF’s parents and Stanford Law Professors Joseph Bankman and Barabra Fried would do according to the legwork, according to the report of BloombergConsultation with those who are close to President Trump’s inner circles in the process. Decrypt Delivered to the legal team of SBF to clarify the reports about the search for a grace, but did not immediately receive a response.
The curriculum founder was accused of Multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy And Eventually sentenced to 25 years in prison For his role in the collapse of FTX. He appeals to the verdict.
Roger “Bitcoin Jesus”
In the most public representation of those on this list, Roger begged “Bitcoin Jesus” fresh president Trump to grace a grace Posted in a video On the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in January.
An early investor in Bitcoin, a backer of a number of crypto companies, and co-founder of the Bitcoin Foundation, is far confronted with a prison sentence for tax evasion with a federal indictment due to claimed that he arose to pay taxes of almost $ 50 million.
But in the case of far, the situation is complicated because he denounced his American citizenship, so that Elon Musk suggests that “there is no grace for it”, adding that “membership has his privileges.”
Var was arrested in 2024 and currently fights extradition to the United States while he is on bail in Spain. In April 2025 he paid Trump confidant Roger Stone $ 600,000 to lobby on his behalfIn particular against the “exit tax” that is related to his tax evasion.
Joby Weeks
Undoubtedly less known than other names on this list, Jobadiah (or Joby) argues guilty of accusing conspiracy to offer and sell unregistered effects in 2020 in connection with Bitclub, one of the most striking Ponzi schedules of Crypto, Investors scammed for an amount of $ 722 million.
Bitclub lobbyed famous for money from investors to buy mining equipment to generate remarkable Bitcoin returns, with the expectation that investors would receive part of the mining win.
Although weeks did not immediately mention a grace, he mentioned it, narration Politics in March“ “It would be great to board Trump.” For weeks his defense tactics also shifted when Trump took office and chose to represent himself while looking for a dismissal of his case, per Politics.
Published by Andrew Hayward
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