Photo by Binance.US has bashed claims from US Senator Chris Murphy, accusing the exchange of favoring President Donald Trump-related assets, following its decision to list stablecoin USD1.
On Wednesday, Binance.US defended its listing of USD1, the stablecoin issued by Trump-affiliated World Liberty Financial, after Senator Murphy wrote a message on X yesterday claiming the exchange was promoting the asset because of Trump’s business relationship with Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.
As reported by Cryptopolitan last week, Trump granted a presidential pardon to Zhao, who had been previously convicted of violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws. Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, wrote on X that the USD1 listing is “payback” for the pardon.
“One week after Trump pardoned Binance’s owner for a stunning array of crimes related to terrorist and sex predator financing, Binance started promoting Trump crypto. The White House is a full-time, 24/7 corruption machine,” he wrote.
In a statement replying to the Liberal Senator, Binance.US said its listing decisions are subject to a rigorous review process.
“We conduct comprehensive due diligence and legal review before listing any asset on Binance US, whether it’s a stablecoin, a new ecosystem project, or a meme token,” the firm reiterated.
Binance US: Business decision unfairly politicized
The exchange’s US arm noted that both USD1 and WLFI are already listed on more than 20 major exchanges, including Coinbase, Robinhood, and Kraken.
“These assets have both been approved for some time by our listing committee in its ordinary course of business,” the statement continued. “To be clear, this was a business decision on the part of Binance US and nothing more. It’s unfortunate that even routine business decisions are now unfairly politicized by our elected officials.”
On paper, the listing on Binance.US is meant to be an expansion of stablecoin options for US traders. However, it became politically charged after Zhao’s pardon, which opponents of the Trump administration insist is an example of undue influence by powerful crypto interests.
Zhao, who co-founded Binance in 2017, pleaded guilty in 2023 to failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering program. The plea was part of a settlement in which Binance admitted to criminal charges and agreed to pay more than $4.3 billion in penalties to the US government. The Binance co-founder personally paid a $50 million fine and served four months in federal prison before being released last year.
On Monday, Representative Rohit Khanna of California’s 17th congressional district accused Trump of engaging in open corruption in an interview with CNBC.
“You’ve got a foreign billionaire who was basically engaged in money laundering, having money go to Hamas, having money go to Iran, having money go to child abusers. He was convicted. He served four years in prison. And then he petitions for a pardon from Donald Trump after basically funneling money to terrorists,” the 49-year-old California Rep asserted.
The pardon of Zhao is corrupt.
I explain simply what's going on.
I am today introducing legislation to ban the president, his family, members of Congress, and all elected officials from trading crypto or stocks. @unusual_whales has been sounding the alarm on this for years. pic.twitter.com/OgibgdnqkK
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) October 27, 2025
Khanna propounded that Zhao offered financial support to World Liberty and, in return, received a pardon. “Donald Trump gives him a pardon while he’s basically financing Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency stablecoin. It is so illegal. It is right in our faces,” he said.
Do Trump’s businesses present a conflict of interest?
At the start of his first term, Trump refused to divest his assets or place them in a blind trust, a departure from modern presidential norms established by figures like Jimmy Carter, who sold his peanut farm to avoid conflicts.
The US President placed his holdings in a trust controlled by his family, with himself as the sole beneficiary. During his first tenure at the Oval Office, he faced repeated accusations of profiting from foreign and domestic interests, including visits from officials representing 20 foreign governments to Trump-owned properties. The Secret Service reportedly spent more than $10 million on lodging at his hotels.
After winning back the top seat in the US, Trump agreed to hand everything over to a trust managed by his sons, although naysayers believe he is making decisions that are directly benefitting the companies.
“Such unprecedented disregard for time-honored ethical boundaries was shocking at the time. Now it looks merely quaint,” said Danielle Caputo, senior legal counsel for ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit watchdog group. “With this new administration, there’s not just a disregard for ethics rules, there’s contempt.”
Join a premium crypto trading community free for 30 days - normally $100/mo.
