The Trump family has won 4.5 billion! The mysterious cryptocurrency platform behind it was exposed. The trader was actually Binance Zhao Changpeng?

The Trump family's cryptocurrency business has amassed $4.5 billion in wealth, with the explosive growth of its core engine—the stablecoin USD1—reportedly driven by PancakeSwap, a platform secretly controlled by Binance. Binance not only secretly provides trading infrastructure but also holds a huge amount of USD1 and drives traffic to it. Meanwhile, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who is in prison for money laundering, is lobbying the White House through Trump family connections to seek a pardon.

Written by: Long Yue

Source: Wall Street Journal

In the Trump family's cryptocurrency business empire, a little-known story is emerging, and behind it is the figure of Binance's Changpeng Zhao.

On August 12, according to the Wall Street Journal, the Trump family's cryptocurrency business is creating wealth at an unprecedented rate, having generated more than $4.5 billion since the election, surpassing any other sector of the Trump business empire.

Behind this success lies an undisclosed interest chain with Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, with the key player being the trading platform PancakeSwap.

In June this year, the Trump family's cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial, announced a partnership with PancakeSwap aimed at increasing the adoption rate of its issued stablecoin USD1. Since then, the trading volume of USD1 on PancakeSwap has seen explosive growth, becoming the core engine driving the profit growth of World Liberty Financial.

However, a key fact was not disclosed in the cooperation announcement: according to people familiar with the company, PancakeSwap was actually created and continuously supervised by Binance's internal employees. This information has linked the Trump family's business interests more closely with Binance.

At the same time, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who was imprisoned for four months last year due to the company's money laundering and other issues and agreed to pay a huge fine of $4.3 billion, is stepping up efforts to lobby the White House in the hope of obtaining a presidential pardon. Insiders said that Zhao recently hired lobbyist Ches McDowell, who has close ties to Donald Trump Jr., to promote the matter.

This series of business operations has triggered external scrutiny of potential conflicts of interest. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded that "the media's continued attempt to fabricate conflicts of interest is irresponsible" and emphasized that "President Trump and his family have not, do not, and will not engage in any conflicts of interest."

PancakeSwap: Anonymous "chefs" and Binance's behind-the-scenes control

PancakeSwap presents itself as a relaxed, decentralized entity, claiming to be operated by a group of anonymous "chefs" and comparing cryptocurrency trading to "flipping pancakes." However, its background is far from simple.

Former Binance employees said that the platform was an internally incubated project by Binance in 2020 to seize the "decentralized finance" (DeFi) boom and has been under Binance's supervision.

PancakeSwap's trading platform is built on Binance's blockchain network, which provides basic technical support for its operation. This hidden management relationship means that Binance has actually provided key infrastructure and market channels for the success of USD1, all of which have not been fully disclosed to the public.

USD1 stablecoin: The incentive game behind the surge in trading volume

At the core of the Trump family's wealth growth is the stablecoin USD1 issued by their company World Liberty Financial. A stablecoin is a digital currency pegged 1:1 to the US dollar, and the issuer earns interest by investing reserves in government bonds and money market funds.

It is estimated that with the current circulation of more than $2 billion, USD1 can bring about $80 million in annual revenue to World Liberty, and the Trump family holds a 40% stake in the company. According to a disclosure document released on Monday, the Trump family's stake in the cryptocurrency is worth $4.5 billion.

To ignite market demand for USD1, PancakeSwap played the role of a "booster." The platform launched an event called "Liquidity Drive," offering prizes of up to $1 million to the most active users trading USD1.

Driven by this incentive, the daily trading volume of USD1 on PancakeSwap soared from tens of millions of dollars to more than $1 billion, accounting for more than 90% of its global total trading volume. Trevor Xu, founder of crypto AI company Tagger, said, "The mainstream view in this ecosystem is that Binance is supporting USD1."

Intertwined interests: From investment to pardon lobbying

Binance's support for USD1 goes beyond PancakeSwap. Blockchain data shows that the Binance platform itself holds USD1 worth $2 billion, and by not liquidating these stablecoins, it ensures that World Liberty can continue to profit from reserve investments.

In addition, Binance also promotes emerging token projects that trade with USD1 through its "Binance Alpha" program, further expanding the use cases of USD1.

As business cooperation deepens, Zhao Changpeng's political demands seem to have emerged. Last year, Binance agreed to pay a huge fine of $4.3 billion for being a "money laundering center," and Zhao himself was imprisoned as a result.

According to insiders, the crypto billionaire, worth more than $70 billion, recently hired lobbyist Ches McDowell, who has close ties to Donald Trump Jr., to secure a presidential pardon for him. Zhao himself once said on social media that "no felon would mind getting a pardon" but denied that it was related to business transactions.

Chinese factors attract attention

It is worth noting that the Trump family's crypto business has close ties with entities and individuals with Chinese backgrounds. It is reported that PancakeSwap's website was initially registered in Shanghai, and most of the users in the Telegram group promoting USD1 transactions are Chinese.

In addition, crypto billionaire Justin Sun is one of the largest investors in World Liberty. According to insiders, Eric Trump, the president's son and co-founder of World Liberty, plans to travel to Hong Kong in August to attend a Bitcoin conference and meet with more potential partners.

The company has also recently held exploratory discussions with Hong Kong crypto service provider HashKey about investment, whose major shareholder is a Chinese company. These business activities are in stark contrast to the White House's political statements.

Disclaimer: The views in this article only represent the author's personal opinions and do not constitute investment advice on this platform. This platform does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, originality, or timeliness of the article's information, nor does it assume responsibility for any losses arising from the use or reliance on the article's information.