[Digital Today AI Reporter] The blockchain outlet Cointelegraph reported on the 14th (local time) that President Donald Trump is considering pardons for roughly 250 people to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
Officials have discussed announcing the pardons either on Trump’s birthday, June 14, or on Independence Day, July 4. The plan is still preliminary and has not been finalized. The White House received more than 16,000 formal presidential pardon petitions last year.
On his first day back in office last year, President Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people linked to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Since then, incarcerated or criminally charged figures in the cryptocurrency industry and their supporters have sought clemency.
Those who have publicly sought pardons include FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and Kiyon Rodriguez, developer of the Samurai Wallet crypto-mixing protocol. Bankman-Fried was convicted on all seven charges related to the collapse of FTX and, in 2024, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He continued to post on social media hoping for a pardon, but Trump reportedly excluded him from consideration earlier this year.
Trump’s second-term administration has already granted clemency to some figures from the crypto industry. Last year the White House pardoned BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed. They pleaded guilty to violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act by failing to maintain anti–money-laundering controls and customer identification programs.
