Binance CEO Richard Teng says Trump is a catalyst for global crypto revolution

Richard Teng, the CEO of Binance, says President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto policies are forcing global regulators to rethink their approach. Speaking at CONVERGE LIVE in Singapore, Teng pointed to a clear shift from Biden’s crackdown on crypto to an administration that is actively supporting the industry.

“We have moved from a period where there’s big regulatory uncertainty and, in many sense, some regulatory hostility towards the industry, to one where the largest economy of the world said, ‘we want to embrace crypto,” Teng said.

Under Biden’s presidency, regulators came down hard on crypto exchanges and firms, citing fraud and money laundering concerns. Teng made it clear that the industry is relieved by the change. “If you ask anybody in the crypto industry, people prefer the current administration compared to the last one.”

Trump orders the creation of a U.S. crypto reserve

Trump doubled down on his pro-crypto stance earlier this month with an executive order to create a strategic crypto reserve for the United States. The plan involves using seized digital assets from criminal and civil forfeitures to build the reserve.

Announcing the decision on Truth Social, Trump confirmed that the reserve will include Bitcoin, Ether, Ripple’s XRP, Solana’s SOL, and Cardano’s ADA.

On that, Teng said, “The messaging is the largest government … the biggest capital market in the world is now holding Bitcoin as part of the reserve, [that’ll] cause many other governments to think through the issue, to sit up to say, should we start doing allocation into crypto and bitcoin?”

Crypto markets reacted immediately. Bitcoin prices dropped after the announcement as investors were underwhelmed by the reserve details.

Broader market sentiment has also weakened due to concerns over Trump’s new tariff policies, which some believe could impact riskier assets like crypto.

Teng downplayed the drop, calling it a short-term market reaction, adding that Washington’s embrace of digital assets and Trump’s appointment of crypto-friendly lawmakers will be a strong long-term driver for the industry.

Since returning to office, Trump has made crypto regulation a priority, selecting venture capitalist David Sacks as the new White House artificial intelligence and crypto czar.

Richard Teng sees the end of crypto’s ‘Operation Choke Point 2.0’

Teng said the regulatory hostility under Biden’s administration included what he called “Operation Choke Point 2.0”, a coordinated effort to cut off crypto firms from banking services.

He described it as an attempt to push crypto out of the financial system by making it nearly impossible for companies to work with traditional banks.

While CNBC was unable to verify the existence of such an operation, Teng insisted that the industry suffered greatly from regulatory pressure.

Chao Deng, CEO of HashKey Capital, backed up Teng’s claim, calling access to banking services one of the biggest wins of Trump’s election.

“They encourage, and they allow banks to be involved with crypto. This is a very huge step for the crypto and Web3 industry,” Deng said, explaining that banks now feel comfortable working with crypto clients again.

This comes as the crypto market is struggling with Trump’s economic policies, but Binance’s BNB token has surged 8% after reports that Trump’s family is in talks to secure a financial stake in Binance.US. According to the Wall Street Journal, Binance approached Trump allies last year, pitching a potential partnership that could help Binance regain ground in the U.S.

Steve Witkoff, a real estate investor and longtime Trump associate, has reportedly been the one in charge of Binance’s discussions with the Trump family.

At the same time, WSJ claimed that Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), is seeking a presidential pardon after serving a four-month sentence for violating anti-money laundering laws.

CZ clarified in a post on X that the Journal got many facts wrong. “Fact: I have had no discussions of a Binance US deal with … well, anyone,” said CZ. “No felon would mind a pardon, especially being the only one in US history who was ever sentenced to prison for a single BSA charge.” But CZ believes the WSJ’s article is motivated by an attack on Trump and crypto, and the residual forces of the “war on crypto” from the last administration are still at work. “It’s good to see that even WSJ thinks I should be pardoned,” he said with a laugh.

Cryptopolitan Academy: Tired of market swings? Learn how DeFi can help you build steady passive income. Register Now