Binance.US dismissed the accusations that the decision to list USD1, a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, was politically influenced or tied to President Donald Trump. The exchange reacted after U.S. Senator Chris Murphy claimed that the listing was a way of paying back Trump for his recent pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. The senator’s statement on X accused the exchange of promoting a Trump-related digital asset just after the controversial pardon.
Murphy alleged that Binance’s behavior was a political favor when he said, “One week after Trump pardoned Binance’s owner, Binance starts promoting Trump crypto.” His comments referred to the announcement by Binance about the USD1 listing, which he interpreted as a sign of increased communication between the exchange and Trump’s business side in the crypto sector.
Binance.US vehemently rejected the idea of any political link in its reply on X, writing that the listing of USD1 and WLFI with them was part of the “normal course of business.” The exchange noted that both assets had already received approval from their internal listing committee prior to the pardon being issued. Besides, it remarked that USD1 and WLFI are already listed on more than 20 U.S. exchanges, such as Coinbase, Robinhood, and Kraken, thus presenting the listing as a regular industry practice.
The exchange emphasized, “Binance.US made this decision as a business matter only, without any other implication. We regret that our elected officials are politicizing business decisions that we carry out routinely in an unfair manner.” Binance.US later confirmed that its listing operations are supported by accountability of in-depth internal investigations and regulatory frameworks.
The mess arises in a heated political atmosphere surrounding Trump’s leveraging of the crypto market. Besides that, World Liberty Financial, a company operating the USD1, is said to have relationships with the Trump family; thus, the question of possible conflicts of interest has been raised by critics as Trump is seen to be fostering the growth of the U.S. stablecoin market.
USD1, which is linked to the U.S. dollar, is at present the sixth-largest stablecoin globally with a market cap of 2.97 billion dollars.
Several Democratic politicians, along with the representative Maxine Waters, have been speaking against the pardon of Trump to Zhao, that they say it was the result of a short period of lobbying and the giving of money to the enterprises linked to Trump. Among the charges, Zhao admitted in 2023 that he was involved in activities against the money laundering rules. He had been imprisoned for four months before his release, after which he thanked Trump for the pardon, promising to help the U.S. be a leader in crypto innovation.
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