Trump pardons convicted Binance founder • Hacker News Board

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#331

Post by lostdog » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 9:15 PM UTC

froggertoaster wrote: post #230

Alifatisk wrote: post #188

I cannot comprehend how half of Americans are fine with this corrupt leader? He even does this bizarre maffia like deals out in the open for his own interest, that's how confident he is no one will say anything The message is clear from his circus administration, you can do anything as long as you bribe them

Hi, Trump voter here. I'm NOT fine with this.

> Hi, Trump voter here. I'm NOT fine with this.

Welcome to the resistance!

Just curious. Since you voted for someone who is a terrible President last time, what are you planning to change about how you make voting decisions next time? Are there particular people or media you plan to listen to less, and others more? Particular aspects you will weight higher or lower?

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#332

Post by gottorf » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 9:15 PM UTC

bena wrote: post #306

McP wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biden pardoned several family members

Yeah, because he was guarding them against the current administration abusing the Justice Department to go after them. Same reason he pardoned Fauci and others. And from what we've seen, he was right to do so. Although, they've been angling to declare his pardons void so they can go after whoever they wish.

[flagged]

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#333

Post by Jweb_Guru » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 9:15 PM UTC

dc396 wrote: post #282

Jweb_Guru wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The prosecution was not political lol, he went out of his way to support money laundering on the Binance platform. The reason he complied with the prosecution and pled guilty rather than try to fight it out in court was that they were able to produce a ton of evidence that he deliberately ignored regulators and regulations designed to prevent money laundering in order to make money off sanctioned groups and criminal…

It must really suck and be incredibly disheartening to be one of the folks who pursued this to a conviction.

The justifications for why the pardon is okay are ridiculously flimsy and I assumed that it was because they weren't really trying, but bewilderingly it does actually appear to have convinced some credulous people on Hacker News, so I suppose enough consent was manufactured that people think going out of your way to let money launderers use your platform is not a big deal? Maybe it's because people don't understand that typically the reason people launder money is because they committed major crimes to get that money and have no way to actually use it without getting caught.

For example if your crypto is the proceeds of ransomware, you're going to have a hard time cashing out without using something like Monero (which effectively has no offramps) without going through an exchange that knows perfectly well that you're trying to touch tainted goods. Exchanges like Binance that just don't bother to check who their customers are when they withdraw cash for such assets are just as critical to the ransomware plague as any security bug or social engineering issue. It's one of the reasons that pre-crypto, even though ransomware was technically feasible, it was never able to grow into a large-scale operation--no offramps. But hey maybe the official stance of CZ supporters is now that ransomware is good, actually, and if you don't like it it's because you have partisan bias (???)

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#334

Post by jsbg » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 9:15 PM UTC

bena wrote: post #306

McP wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biden pardoned several family members

Yeah, because he was guarding them against the current administration abusing the Justice Department to go after them. Same reason he pardoned Fauci and others. And from what we've seen, he was right to do so. Although, they've been angling to declare his pardons void so they can go after whoever they wish.

> Yeah, because he was guarding them against the current administration abusing the Justice Department to go after them. Same reason he pardoned Fauci and others.

Are pre-emptive pardons a common thing for American presidents to do?

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#335

Post by adastra22 » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 9:16 PM UTC

Alifatisk wrote: post #188

I cannot comprehend how half of Americans are fine with this corrupt leader? He even does this bizarre maffia like deals out in the open for his own interest, that's how confident he is no one will say anything The message is clear from his circus administration, you can do anything as long as you bribe them

Only had of Americans vote, only half of them voted for Trump, and his approval rating is down significantly since inauguration.

It is not accurate to say that half of Americans are ok with this. It’s just our system doesn’t allow for doing anything about it except wait.

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#336

Post by rts_cts » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 9:16 PM UTC

I'm not sure it will be a problem for Changpeng Zhao but let's say I was convicted of a felony in the US, served time in prison and then was pardoned by the president. What would my employment prospects be in comparison to someone who didn't receive a pardon?

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#337

Post by pavlov » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 9:16 PM UTC

dylan604 wrote: post #305

taurath wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Truly don’t understand the equivalence here.

Really? What ever positive opinions I had left of Biden went out the window with that decision.

Doesn’t it affect your opinion in any way that Trump’s DOJ has been used exactly like his harshest critics last year said it would?

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#338

Post by hshdhdhehd » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 9:16 PM UTC

martythemaniak wrote: post #257

COLLINS: Today you pardoned the founded of Binance. Can you explain why you did that? TRUMP: Which one was that? COLLINS: The founder of Binance TRUMP: I believe we're talking about the same person, because I do pardon a lot of people. I don't know. He was recommended by a lot of people. https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m3v6mnpkb52i

Fuck. Guys. Psst. You have another demented leader.

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#339

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 9:17 PM UTC

martythemaniak wrote: post #257

COLLINS: Today you pardoned the founded of Binance. Can you explain why you did that? TRUMP: Which one was that? COLLINS: The founder of Binance TRUMP: I believe we're talking about the same person, because I do pardon a lot of people. I don't know. He was recommended by a lot of people. https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m3v6mnpkb52i

[deleted]

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#340

Post by adastra22 » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 9:17 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #315

thunky wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> around 36% sat at home or abstained, but in practicality they basically said they were fine with whoever won. Or, they were not fine with whoever won. We've got two abismal parties to choose from. Yes, there's an agument for voting for the lesser of two evils, but it's not a great one. I'd like to believe at least some of those 36% would vote for a decent candidate/party. But once you lose faith in the system, and…

By not voting, you are clearly saying you are fine with whoever wins. If you were not fine with whoever wins, you would have voted for someone, anyone else.

Participation adds a moral dimension. It becomes a trolly problem — do you throw the switch and take culpability for the outcome?