President Donald Trump’s pardon of Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the former CEO and founder of Binance, has made headlines worldwide. Yet, the move may be part of a deeper story unfolding behind the scenes. NoOne’s CEO, Ray Youssef, suggested that CZ has aligned himself with the US establishment — the very force, he argued, that truly runs Binance.
The decision has reignited speculation that US authorities, and now US politics, hold far greater influence over the world’s largest crypto exchange than many care to admit.
Who Really Runs Binance?
In a recent BeInCrypto Podcast episode, Youssef rejected the idea that Binance was connected to the Chinese Communist Party — a claim often repeated by critics. Instead, he insisted that the exchange had become an instrument of US power.
He also alleged that President Trump and his family were linked to this network of influence. Youssef suggested that CZ had aligned himself not only with American regulators but with figures close to Trump himself.
“Binance is not CCP, folks. The Communist Party of China would never be this gangster and criminal. No, CZ has aligned himself with Uncle Sam. And the Trump family and they’re in on this together. The Chinese are not this stupid, not this criminal, and they’re not gangsters. But Uncle Sam is, and that’s who CZ is working with,” he told BeInCrypto.
He argued that the company effectively fell under Washington’s control after CZ’s guilty plea and Binance’s $4 billion settlement with the US Department of Justice. The court-ordered compliance monitor, he claimed, transformed Binance from an offshore exchange into an American-controlled asset.
“That’s why you’re having the KYC every two weeks on Binance. They run the company. It’s not the Chinese folks. It’s Uncle Sam that runs Binance,” the CEO added.
Is Binance The New FTX?
Interestingly, Youssef drew parallels between Binance and FTX, the now-defunct exchange once led by Sam Bankman-Fried. The executive highlighted that FTX had been a “state-sponsored” setup intended to fail. Nonetheless, its implosion came earlier than planned due to CZ’s involvement.
According to Youssef, Binance has now become the new centerpiece in what he described as a “controlled demolition” of the crypto industry. He stated,
“Binance is literally the new FTX, but they’re going to burst only when they want it to burst, and they’re going to do maximum damage when it happens. When CZ burst the bubble on FTX, the damage was really basically 1% of what the state planned it to be. Now they’re going to use Binance as that they’re going to make that corpse explode right in our face.”
Youssef predicted that a potential Binance collapse would be “a 1000 times worse than FTX.” He claimed that FTX’s downfall happened too soon, before it reached the level of insolvency. In contrast, Binance’s future crash, he warned, could shake the entire digital asset market.
It’s quite well known that Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. A previous CoinGecko report showed that Binance controls nearly 40% of the global crypto market, making any disruption potentially catastrophic for institutional and retail investors.
White House: Biden’s “War on Crypto” Has Ended After CZ’s Pardon
While Youssef’s claims raise concerns about US influence over Binance, Washington’s official position paints a very different picture. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that the Biden administration’s actions against CZ were part of broader enforcement efforts against the crypto industry.
“In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden Administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims,” Leavitt commented.
Leavitt added that the Biden administration had pushed for a three-year prison term for Zhao. She claimed this was far beyond the federal sentencing guidelines.
She argued that this approach hurt America’s image as a hub for innovation and technological leadership, adding that the administration’s crackdown on the crypto sector had effectively come to an end.
In conclusion, Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has reignited debates over who truly controls the world’s largest crypto exchange. Youssef claims Binance has fallen under US political and regulatory influence. Meanwhile, the White House maintains that its actions ended the “war on crypto.”
