White House officials said on Thursday that US President Trump has pardoned the convicted Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. White House press secretary Carolyn Levitt said in a statement that Trump "exercised his constitutional powers to pardon Changpeng Zhao, who was prosecuted in the Biden administration's cryptocurrency crackdown." Changpeng Zhao had previously resigned as CEO after Binance reached a $4.3 billion settlement with the US government to end its years-long investigation. Changpeng Zhao's pardon is the latest in a series of white-collar crime pardons by Trump. Earlier this year, Trump pardoned the co-founder of the BitMEX exchange who was convicted of anti-money laundering violations, and the founder of the electric truck company Nikola who was sentenced for fraud, and commuted the sentences of executives of the defunct Ozy Media. After the news was announced, Binance Coin BNB's intraday gains widened to 5%.