Politico reports:

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis condemned President Donald Trump’s move to pardon cryptocurrency mogul Changpeng Zhao on Thursday, saying it sends “a bad signal.”

“I don’t like it,” the retiring North Carolina Republican told reporters. “He was convicted. He’s not innocent.”

His comments signal that some GOP lawmakers are uneasy with the move to pardon Zhao, who pleaded guilty in November 2023 to money laundering-related charges. Zhao, often known as CZ, founded the crypto exchange Binance, which federal prosecutors alleged became a hub for illicit finance.

The pardon could complicate an ongoing effort on Capitol Hill to negotiate a major overhaul of crypto regulations, which requires bipartisan support. Democrats have denounced the pardon as corrupt, pointing to a $2 billion investment that an Abu Dhabi-backed fund made in Binance using a digital token issued by a crypto firm launched by Trump’s sons.

The top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, said in a statement Thursday that “if Congress does not stop this kind of corruption in pending market structure legislation, it owns this lawlessness.” [Continue reading…]