Binance.US on Wednesday, defended its recent decision to list USD1, a stablecoin created by the Trump-affiliated World Liberty Financial, in response to a U.S. senator’s accusations of political bias.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy claimed that Binance’s USD1 listing was retaliation for Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao last week.
What did the post say?
“One week after Trump pardoned Binance’s owner (for a stunning array of crimes related to terrorist and sex predator financing), Binance starts promoting Trump crypto,” Murphy wrote on X(Twitter), referencing an earlier Binance announcement about listing USD1.
Also Read: White House Talks “Heating Up” On Possible Trump Pardon For Binance Co-Founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao
In response, Binance.US stated on Wednesday that USD1 and WLFI are listed on more than 20 U.S. exchanges, including Coinbase, Robinhood, and Kraken, and that the listing committee has previously authorised both assets through its “ordinary course of business.”
“To be clear, this was a business decision on the part of [Binance.US] and nothing more,” the exchange said. “It’s unfortunate that even routine business decisions are now unfairly politicised by our elected officials.”
World Liberty Financial issues USD1, a stablecoin, which is based on the US dollar. At this time, with a market value of $2.97 billion, it ranks as the world’s sixth-largest stablecoin.
Trump and Crypto
U.S. President Donald Trump and his family’s participation in World Liberty Financial has long been denounced by political opponents, who point to conflicts of interest as Trump aggressively encouraged the expansion of the USD stablecoin industry.
Democratic Representative Maxine Waters blamed Trump’s pardon of Zhao last week on Zhao’s months of lobbying Trump and his family while “funnelling billions” into World Liberty Financial.
In 2023, following a deal with the U.S. government in which Binance admitted to criminal charges and agreed to pay over $4.3 billion in fines, the co-founder of Binance entered a guilty plea to failing to develop an effective anti-money laundering program.
Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison after personally paying a $50 million fine, and he was freed from prison last year.
The issue still revolves around the USD1 stablecoin. Blockchain infrastructure company BitGo affirmed that it is the custodian of USD1, guaranteeing that the stablecoin is fully backed by short-term US Treasuries, dollar deposits, and cash equivalents.
Also Read: Trump Family Nets Nearly $1 Billion From Expanding Crypto Ventures, Report