Binance returns to focus after Trump’s pardon as crypto ETFs suffer their biggest breakout of the year

The pulse of digital money is accelerating again. In a matter of days, the crypto world has gone from relief to uncertainty. exchange-traded funds bitcoin and ethereum record the largest capital outflows since June while a new political storm arrives from Washington. Donald Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the worldsentenced in 2023 for failing to prevent money laundering. The gesture, which divides regulators and markets, coincides with a wave of nerves around ETFs and the volatility of bitcoin.

Zhao, who served four months in prison last year and paid a $50 million fine, had admitted that his platform allowed transactions with sanctioned entities, including the military branch of Hamas and operators in Iran.

Binance also took a sanction of 4,300 million for violating US anti-money laundering regulations. The pardon on Thursday, October 23, returns him to the political forefront and opens the door to an eventual return of the group to the United States.

Meanwhile, the White House defends the decision as a legitimate exercise of presidential authority and assures that the case has been reviewed “exhaustively.” However, critical voices in Washington, such as the Americans for Financial Reform organization, see the pardon as an example of “undue influence” and remember that Binance was one of the main promoters of World Liberty Finance, the firm linked to the Trump family that launched the stablecoin USD.1.

It is not surprising that Binance has become a new trust thermometer. Its BNB token has risen 5% after learning of the pardon and its capitalization reaches $150 billion, according to data from CoinDesk. In any case, the brand still has a strong reputational deficit.

Even so, the possibility of the exchange regaining presence in the United States fuels speculation about a new wave of liquidity. If the company manages to obtain a license, it could once again offer perpetual futures products, the most popular contracts in the crypto market due to their leverage capacity and high turnover.

Institutional money retreats and whales make moves

And as politics intersects with digital finance, capital flows move in the opposite direction. Bitcoin ETFs, which at the beginning of the year had channeled more than $70 billion in assets under management, have had several weeks of net outflows.

CoinShares data shows a negative balance of more than 400 million in the last two weeks, with especially marked declines in US funds. Bloomberg confirms that institutional investors reduce exposure to crypto products at the same rate as they increase defensive positions in gold and liquidity.

The change in trend comes after a summer of euphoria in which exchange-traded funds became the great institutional entry channel. The “regulated bitcoin” narrative propelled the asset above $124,000, but the Federal Reserve’s monetary shift and trade tensions with China cooled sentiments. The dollar strengthened again and global liquidity decreased, just as risk appetite began to pick up.

Since then, bitcoin has corrected to levels close to $111,000a decline that analysts interpret as a necessary purge after months of dizzying increases.

The feeling of uncertainty has been amplified with movements such as that of the so-called BitcoinOG whale, the investor who earned almost 200 million during the October crash. According to data from Lookonchain, this trader has opened a new leveraged short position against bitcoin worth more than $200 million. The gesture symbolizes the change of mood in the market.

The next few days will show if political indulgence translates into new momentum or if, on the contrary, the distrust it has caused ends up consolidating the withdrawal of capital.