After CZ, Trump Weighs Pardon for Another Crypto Mogul

In Brief

• President Donald Trump said he would consider the pardon of Samurai Wallet founder Keonne Rodriguez.
• The potential pardon comes amid Trump’s broader pro-crypto stance and recent high-profile pardons.
• The pardon may reignite political debate, with Democrats criticizing Trump’s leniency.

Shedrach Kongvong 2025-12-16

President Donald Trump is considering another landmark decision in the crypto industry. The president has just mentioned that he’ll look into the pardon of Samurai wallet founder Keonne Rodriguez just days to his prison sentence.

Trump stated this in response to questions from journalists at the White House. Rodriguez has been on trial since the Biden administration for creating a crypto privacy software, and the Department of justice (DoJ) under Trump has continued with the prosecution and secured a conviction.

However, the crypto community has cried out concerning the conviction as they think Rodrigez should be pardoned. In response, a joking Trump said he’ll look into it although he doesn’t know much about the case, also teasing the journalist asking the question. ‘You sound like you want him pardoned”, he said.

Trump’s Pardon for Crypto Players Offends Democrats

Trump came on board with a strong support for crypto in his second term as president. He has since shown support for the industry, with pardons granted to some key players in the industry recently. The president had granted pardon to Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht who was in jail for over 11 years before he was released.

He also more recently granted pardon to Binance former CEO and co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao who had already served his 4-month sentence and had already been released. Trump however pardoned him, effectively lifting restrictions on his business ventures. These pardons have sparked criticism from Democrats.

In response, a Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna sponsored a bill to ban public office holders like Trump and their families from having anything to do with cryptocurrencies. The congressman also alleged that the pardon granted CZ was in exchange for his support of Trump’s planned stablecoin which has already been launched.

Trump at the time denied the allegation, saying he never knew CZ prior to the pardon which he said had nothing to do with the stablecoin under development. The Democrats however have continued to criticize the president on many other crypto-related matters.

Will Trump Pardon Rodriguez?

Trump has been quite friendly towards the crypto industry and is usually disposed to support it. The question is, will he grant the request for Rodriguez’s pardon? From his body language and the joke about the journalist desiring the man’s pardon, he may already have a bias towards granting the pardon.

One thing is certain though, the Democrats will come for him if he does grant the pardon. The dust has barely settled concerning CZ’s pardon, so it’ll be natural for another reaction from the opposition camp on this.