Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, Democrat Representative Gerald Connolly has urged the US Treasury to halt any efforts for a US strategic crypto reserve, and Binance former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao had denied Binance reached out to US President Donald Trump’s family in 2024 to help relaunch Binance.US or that he was seeking a pardon.

Democrat lawmaker urges Treasury to cease Trump’s Bitcoin reserve plans

A Democrat lawmaker has called on the US Treasury to “cease all attempts” to create a strategic crypto reserve in the United States.

House Representative Gerald E. Connolly of Michigan criticized the “cryptocurrency reserve” in a March 13 letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, stating that it provides “no discernible benefit to the American people” and would instead significantly enrich the president and his donors.

Connolly said Trump’s plans would constitute “unsound fiscal policy” because it chooses certain cryptocurrencies over others via social media and would also waste taxpayer dollars.

However, the White House has said that the Digital Asset Stockpile will only hold onto cryptocurrency already forfeited. At the same time, the Bitcoin (BTC) reserve will only make acquisitions through budget-neutral strategies that won’t impact taxpayers.

Changpeng Zhao denies reports of a Binance.US deal, defends Trump

Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has denied many of the claims in a Wall Street Journal report suggesting that he has been actively seeking a federal pardon from US President Donald Trump.

In a March 13 X post following the release of the report, Zhao said he had no discussions regarding a business deal between the Trump family and Binance.US. He further denied claims that he wanted a presidential pardon from Trump, which could potentially allow him to assume an operational or management role at Binance.

“No felon would mind a pardon, especially being the only one in US history who was ever sentenced to prison for a single BSA [Bank Secrecy Act] charge,” said CZ. “Feels like the article is motivated as an attack on the President and crypto, and the residual forces of the ‘war on crypto’ from the last administration are still at work.”

Trump family held talks with Binance for stake in crypto exchange — Report

Representatives of US President Donald Trump’s family have reportedly held talks with Binance about potentially acquiring a stake in the crypto exchange.

Binance reached out to Trump’s family representatives in 2024, offering to strike a business deal as part of a plan to resume Binance.US operations in the country, The Wall Street Journal reported on March 13.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, the report mentioned that Binance’s billionaire founder Changpeng Zhao — who served four months in prison in the US — has been pushing for the Trump administration to grant him a pardon.

“It is unclear what form the Trump family stake would take if the deal comes together or whether it would be contingent on a pardon,” the report said.

According to WSJ, a potential opportunity could be a scenario where Trump takes the stake in Binance or proceeds with the deal through World Liberty Financial, a Trump-backed crypto venture launched in September.

Minutes before the WSJ article was published at 1:00 pm UTC, Trump took to Truth Social to slam the publication for allegedly reporting wrong information.

“The Globalist Wall Street Journal has no idea what they are doing or saying. They are owned by the polluted thinking of the European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of ‘screwing’ the United States of America,” the president wrote.