Changpeng Zhao said on Sunday he will not return to Binance despite receiving a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. He told CNBC’s Squawk Box that the pardon means the former restrictions “are completely lifted,” but he rejected a comeback.
Zhao said he stepped away after seven years and does not want to resume control. He added “I haven’t really needed to go back. I didn’t really want to. I thought it was a pretty good way for me to step down, away from Binance after seven years,”
Zhao pleaded guilty in November 2023 to failing to maintain an effective anti–money laundering program at the exchange. He was sentenced to four months in prison and banned from working at the exchange; the pardon came in October and drew scrutiny from some US lawmakers, and Trump denied knowing who Zhao was.
Company leaders have reported growth since his departure and cited two capable CEOs at the helm. They announced the user base exceeded 300 million and annual product trading volume reached $34 trillion.
Zhao said he remains a shareholder but plays a limited role in operations. He wrote on social media and shared the interview in a tweet, adding “I just thought, look; they don’t need a backseat driver today. I’m still a shareholder,” and calling himself “just a pretty passive shareholder, and today when I want to give them advice, I just write it on Twitter.”
Zhao also forecast a possible Bitcoin supercycle over the next year and questioned the four-year pattern. A supercycle is an extended growth phase, according to industry definitions, and Zhao said “we will probably break the four-year cycle.”
