Representatives of President Donald Trump's family have held talks to acquire a financial stake in the US division of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who served four months in prison after pleading guilty to violating anti-money laundering requirements, is seeking a pardon from the Trump administration.

Zhao, known as CZ, remains Binance's largest shareholder despite stepping down as CEO following the company's $4.3 billion settlement with U.S. authorities in 2023.

According to the newspaper, the talks began when Binance approached Trump's entourage last year, proposing a business deal with the family as part of a strategy to re-enter the US market.

The potential investment could be made directly by the Trump family or through World Liberty Financial, a Trump-backed cryptocurrency venture that launched in September.

Steve Whitkoff, a longtime Trump friend who serves as his chief negotiator in the Middle East and Ukraine, has been involved in the talks.

For Binance, a pardon for Zhao would remove regulatory obstacles to the company's return to the U.S. market and facilitate international business operations.

As a result of the regulatory action, the market share of the company's U.S. division dropped from 27 percent to just over 1 percent.

For the Trump family, a stake in Binance in the U.S. would provide an opportunity to participate in the potential resurgence of a major crypto trading platform at a time when the administration is lifting regulatory restrictions on the industry.

The negotiations, if confirmed, also raise unprecedented conflict of interest issues as Trump continues to conflate his presidential powers and business interests.

Trump keeps his assets under the control of the family, which continues to pursue business deals.

The news came at a time when the United Arab Emirates-based fund MGX, headed by the UAE president's brother, announced it had invested $2 billion to acquire a minority stake in Binance.

The state-backed MGX is also involved in Stargate, the big US artificial intelligence infrastructure project that was backed by Trump. | BGNES