Binance considers several routes back to the United States.
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, is considering a strategic reshuffling to strengthen its presence in the US market, a move that could see Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao reduce his majority stake in the company.
Zhao's controlling stake in Binance has been a “major impediment” to the company's expansion into strategically important US territories, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Although concrete plans have not been revealed, discussions regarding possible measures are said to be “fluid”.
The company is considering partnerships with US-based companies, including asset manager BlackRock and decentralized finance (DeFi) platform World Liberty Financial (WLFI), which has ties to US President Donald Trump, to strengthen its footprint in the country.
Rumors of Binance's return to the U.S. after Trump pardoned Zhao began circulating in October, fueled by speculation from crypto industry executives and Zhao's comments on social media.
“We will do everything we can to make America the crypto capital and grow Web3 globally,” Zhao said after the apology in October.
In June 2019, Binance announced that it would stop serving US customers, and a separate company called Binance.US, managed by BAM Trading Services, was established to provide regulatory-compliant services to US users.
In the year In 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission Binance Holdings Ltd. It claims to operate both Binance.com and BAM trading services.
Binance.US does not offer crypto derivatives nor does it have access to the liquidity of the global Binance exchange and operates as a completely separate crypto exchange.
Cointelegraph reached out to Binance and Binance.US but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
According to the Chinalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, the US is considered a key market for crypto exchanges and ranked number two for global crypto adoption. Expanding into the US opens up US liquidity for the world's largest crypto exchange.
Related: Binance Names Co-Founder Yi He Co-CEO with Richard Teng
Several US lawmakers voiced opposition to the CZ pardon and the crypto industry.
Trump's October pardon for Zhao drew opposition from several Democratic lawmakers, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and California Congresswoman Maxine Waters.
Waters said the pardon was a form of pay-to-play and accused Trump of doing political favors for the crypto industry that “helped line their pockets.”
Warren, one of the crypto industry's most outspoken critics, slammed the apology as “corruption.”
The comments reflect pockets of resistance among some Democratic lawmakers to the continued expansion of the crypto industry in the U.S. and could signal opposition to Binance's return to the U.S.
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