President Donald Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, ending one of the U.S. government’s most significant crackdowns on cryptocurrency crime.

Zhao pleaded guilty to money laundering violations in 2023 and served four months in federal prison. This followed a years-long investigation by U.S. financial regulators and prosecutors.

“President Trump exercised his constitutional power to pardon Mr. Zhao. He was the subject of the Biden administration’s ‘crypto war,’” White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt said in a statement Thursday. “The Biden administration’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies is over.”

This pardon is the latest example of how Trump and his family’s high-profile business associates have benefited from Trump’s reversal of the Biden administration’s broad cryptocurrency crackdown. In seeking the pardon, Zhao hired lawyers and lobbyists with ties to the Trump administration, while Binance entered into a business deal with the Trump family’s cryptocurrency startup, World Freedom Finance.

Upon pleading guilty, Zhao, using the name CZ, resigned as CEO of Binance but retained a majority stake in the company and control of almost all of his wealth.

Now, he may have the opportunity to regain direct control of the exchange. The amnesty could also make it easier for Binance to establish itself in the US market and challenge domestic exchanges such as Coinbase and Kraken.