Trump’s Pardon Authority and Cryptocurrency
In a significant shift for the cryptocurrency landscape, former President Donald Trump leveraged his pardon authority in 2025 to release several prominent figures convicted of crimes linked to the digital currency sector. This action reflects a notable political realignment in Washington, provoking critical discourse about the United States’ regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies should Trump secure a second term in office.
Criticism of Government Efforts
On Truth Social, Trump criticized previous government efforts against the crypto industry, describing them as “ridiculous” and suggesting that political motivations clouded the judicial process surrounding these cases. His initial act of clemency came in January when he pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the mastermind behind the notorious Silk Road marketplace. Ulbricht had faced a lengthy sentence that included two life terms for his role in facilitating illegal transactions involving Bitcoin and was a focal point for advocates of cryptocurrency due to his symbolic status in the early days of the industry.
Following his release, Ulbricht expressed heartfelt gratitude, stating to attendees at the Bitcoin 2025 conference, “Just a few months ago, I was trapped behind those prison walls… now I’m free, and it’s because of you.”
Controversial Pardons
While many supporters viewed Ulbricht’s pardon as a rectification of an earlier harsh punishment, critics, including some former legal authorities, suggested that it weakened the credibility of key cybercrime prosecutions. Republican U.S. Representative Thomas Massie openly lauded the decision on social media.
Trump continued in March by granting pardons to Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, Samuel Reed, and Greg Dwyer, all co-founders and employees of the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX. These individuals had entered guilty pleas in 2022 concerning violations of the Bank Secrecy Act for not adhering to required anti-money laundering measures. Each had faced probation and fines but was granted clemency which erased their felony records, marking a departure from previous administration policies that enforced stringent regulations on crypto exchanges.
The move drew further controversy when Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, after Zhao pled guilty to anti-money laundering violations in November 2023. Following a four-month prison sentence in 2024, Zhao’s pardon was proclaimed by the White House as a decisive end to the previous administration’s anti-crypto stance, though some commentators, including Senator Chris Murphy, raised concerns about perceived correlations between Zhao’s influence, potential ties with Trump’s ventures, and the broader implications for cryptocurrency governance.
Future Implications
Trump, when questioned during a “60 Minutes” interview about his sons’ business connections to Zhao and the cryptocurrency sector, claimed a lack of personal awareness about Zhao, labeling him as a victim of what he termed a “Biden witch hunt.”
Despite the mixed reactions to Trump’s pardons—some praising them as a fulfillment of campaign promises to ease federal scrutiny on the crypto industry while others decrying them as acts of political favoritism—these actions have undeniably altered the federal government’s stance towards cryptocurrency enforcement in 2025. This change sets a complex stage for future regulatory debates as the nation moves forward.
