President Donald Trump said he knows nothing about Binance founder Changpeng Zhao — or that company's recent involvement in a cryptocurrency venture linked to Trump's family — despite granting him a pardon last month.

Asked in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview that aired Sunday why he pardoned the former crypto executive known as CZ, Trump said: "Okay, are you ready? I don't know who he is."

In late 2023, Zhao stepped down as CEO of Binance and pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to sufficiently combat money laundering on his crypto exchange. He was sentenced to four months in jail and released in September 2024.

Trump suggested that his decision to pardon CZ was motivated by a desire to make the U.S. more globally competitive in the nascent crypto industry. And he accu

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