PANews reported on May 8 that Binance founder Zhao Changpeng (CZ) recently said in a podcast that his lawyer has formally applied to Trump for a presidential pardon, despite his previous denials of related reports. CZ said he "wouldn't mind" being pardoned and was inspired by the pardon of the founder of BitMEX to submit an application. He was fined and sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty in 2023. If the pardon is approved, it may allow him to return to his Binance.US operations position.