Trump paves the way for Binance to return to the US market
Date: 2025-10-28 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: BUSINESS
Donald Trump's pardon of Changpeng Zhao was a turning point for Binance and could mark the beginning of a new phase of the company's presence in the US. This move follows a long campaign to establish political contacts within the US President's inner circle and the resumption of the company's lobbying activity.
Since the beginning of 2025, Binance has been actively promoting its interests in Washington again, after a period of inactivity throughout 2024. According to Politico, lobbying expenses amounted to approximately $860,000, approaching previous record levels. Among the specialists brought in was Chas McDowell, a longtime acquaintance of Donald Trump Jr. In September, Binance paid his company, Checkmate, $450,000 for a month of lobbying work with the White House and the Treasury Department. Preparations for Zhao's pardon had been underway long before. As early as February 2025, shortly after Trump took office, Binance and its founder approached renowned cryptocurrency expert Teresa Goody Guillen, who had previously been considered by Trump as a possible SEC director. According to documents, her firm has received approximately $290,000 from Binance and Zhao since the beginning of the year.
The company's activity is closely tied to the market performance of the BNB token, which increased in price by more than 60% from January to the end of October 2025, reaching a market capitalization of $160 billion. Since February, the increase has been over 130%, and since the spring, the token has consistently ranked among the top five fastest-growing crypto assets.
Binance also strengthened its ties with the Trump family's crypto project, World Liberty Financial (WLF), by supporting the launch of their USD1 stablecoin. Binance developers participated in the creation of the coin's source code, despite Zhao's public statements denying direct involvement. USD1 was used in a deal with the UAE-based MGX Fund, which invested $2 billion in Binance, providing WLF with significant returns on the reserve allocation.
After his pardon, Zhao stated that Binance intends to "help America become the crypto capital of the world and advance Web3 globally." Currently, the main platform does not directly operate in the US; its subsidiary, Binance.US, operates there, with a market share of less than 1%. By comparison, Coinbase accounts for almost half of the trading volume, followed by Kraken, Bitstamp, and Gemini.
According to Bloomberg, the current surge in interest in cryptocurrencies in the US is driven by institutional investor activity, creating favorable conditions for Binance's return. Possible scenarios include integrating Binance.US into the global ecosystem or relaunching the platform under a new regulatory status. Further collaboration with projects linked to Trump's political circle, including the WLF, is also possible.
Experts believe that despite Coinbase's strong position, Binance's competitive experience and extensive marketing resources give the company a chance to gain a foothold in the US market.
