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California Governor Gavin Newsom has added a new section to the state's official website to highlight pardons of individuals in the cryptocurrency industry granted by President Donald Trump. The site lists a number of high-profile individuals who have been convicted of financial or criminal offenses related to digital facilities. Both were pardoned or had their sentences commuted under the Trump administration.
The Newsom office notes that the site is an open resource and the initiative is a subset of broader campaigns to enhance public safety. The statement claims that the state of California strives to crack down on crime, but President Trump has forgiven people who committed huge financial offenses.
One of the mentioned names is that of Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, also known as CZ. In October 2025, Trump pardoned him after Zhao confessed to breaking the law in 2023 concerning breaching anti-money laundering rules. The prosecutors of the U.S. accused that these violations enabled the platform to accept illegal money linked to criminal networks.
Another person mentioned on the new webpage is Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road marketplace. In January 2025, Trump gave a complete and unconditional pardon to Ulbricht. In 2015, Ulbricht was found guilty of several offenses related to selling and laundering money on the dark web.
The other co-founders of BitMEX are Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, Gregory Dwyer, and Samuel Reed. Each of the four was pardoned following the conviction under the Bank Secrecy Act. The site is a significant force within the crypto derivatives market, and its actions have been enforced as part of non-liability in the regulatory area.
These pardons were linked to larger issues regarding executive discretion and public accountability by the office of Governor Newsom. The page encourages citizens to review the profiles of individuals who have received presidential clemency.
Also Read: Lawmakers Question Trump’s Pardon of Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, Founder of Binance
The site is launched amid a political fight between the Trump and Newsom camps. Observers view the move as a long-term initiative to compare the governance of Newsom to that of Trump in matters of law enforcement and financial regulation.
The number of cases related to cryptocurrencies is indicative of the increased importance of digital assets in politics. The convergence of cryptocurrency and executive authority, as well as national policy, is increasingly on the national agenda as cryptocurrency is being increasingly regulated and scrutinized.
