Richard Teng, CEO of the global cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has reportedly denied allegations that the company played a role in selecting a stablecoin issued by a Trump family-backed crypto business as part of a multibillion-dollar deal.
According to a Tuesday CNBC report, Teng said Binance “didn’t partake” in the decision to use USD1, the stablecoin launched by the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial business, for a $2 billion deal with an Abu Dhabi-based company, MGX.
The Binance CEO spoke amid scrutiny from many lawmakers after US President Donald Trump issued a pardon for former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, leading to allegations of corruption and “pay for play” politics.
“[T]he usage of USD1 [for the] transaction between MGX as a strategic investor into Binance, that was decided by MGX… We didn’t partake in that decision,” said Teng, according to CNBC.
The initial $2 billion investment by MGX into Binance was announced in March. However, the deal came under additional scrutiny after Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons and a co-founder of World Liberty Financial, said that the funding deal would be settled using USD1, allowing the Trump family business to profit from the transaction.
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After issuing a presidential pardon for CZ on Oct. 23, Trump said in a 60 Minutes interview that he didn’t know who the former Binance CEO was. The president suggested that the Justice Department under the Biden administration unfairly charged Zhao, though the former CEO pleaded guilty as part of a $4.3 billion settlement with US authorities over the exchange’s Anti-Money Laundering program.
Deeper ties between Binance and the Trump family?
Despite Teng’s claims, a July Bloomberg report suggested that Binance was responsible for developing some of the code behind USD1, citing three unnamed individuals familiar with the matter. In response to the report, Zhao hinted that he might pursue a defamation lawsuit against the news outlet.
US lawmakers have also been questioning the US president and his family’s alleged involvement with Binance.
In October, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy said Binance.US, a separate legal entity of the exchange, was “promoting Trump crypto,” a week after Trump “pardoned Binance’s owner.”
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has made similar allegations involving CZ’s relationship with the president, prompting another threat of a lawsuit over the claims.
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