24th October 2025 > > Man-child Zhao & Revolut.

tl;dr

The pardon of Changpeng Zhao is a very bad mistake. Revolut’s new MiCA license will increase crypto adoption across the EU.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

Standard Chartered has been advising clients that any dip below $100k would likely be the last time that BTC would ever be on sale for just five figures. You know I have been saying that for a while. I just don’t think that opportunity will come about now, excepting some majorly negative macro news, probably involving Putin or Xi doing something they really shouldn’t.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Changpeng Zhao

Founder and previously CEO of Binance, man-child Changpeng Zhao has received a full pardon from Trump.

Zhao was convicted of violating US money laundering laws by “failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program at Binance, which allowed the exchange to facilitate transactions involving illicit funds.” He spent only four months in prison, paid a measly personal fine of $50mm with a further penalty of $4.3bn imposed on Binance.

Zhao openly broke all compliance and legislative rules and regulations during the early days of Binance. He would jet around the world visiting the various outposts of Binance, proclaiming that as Binance had no head office, it was not subject to any one country’s laws regarding financial transactions, which frankly was utter nonsense. Under his command, Binance encouraged the deposit of illegal funds into the exchange, in much the same way as does J.P. Morgan which has paid $39bn in fines over the last two decades, nearly ten times that of Binance’s penalty.

Trump’s decision to pardon Zhao is a terrible dereliction of duty. Zhao somehow remained before this pardon part of crypto’s royal family despite the disgrace he deliberately and willingly brought upon himself. He will undoubtedly now return to head up Binance once more.

This is a very sad day that damages the crypto industry’s reputation. It will be used as a weapon against freedom and liberty by those like Senator Elizabeth Warren who wish entrench coercion and control over the masses.

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On the plus side, it is time to increase the CC’s Treasury portfolio exposure to BNB, the Binance chain native coin.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Revolut

I have long been a user and fan of Revolut. I personally need to constantly transfer money between sterling and Euros, which Revolut does for free, compared to the outrageous fees charged by TradFi banks. At the most egregious end of the scale are those FX kiosks found in airports. It’s extraordinary that anyone still uses them when they sell a Euro at more than a pound. In some ways, the assault on the money-making FX machine of TradFi by Revolut was a precursor to the current assault on the money-making money-transfer machine of TradFi by stablecoins.

Revolut has just gained its MiCA license, allowing it to roll out extended and extensive crypto services across the whole of the EU, to its 40mm plus customers based there. Costas Michael, CEO of Revolut Digital Assets Europe, explains:

“This authorisation enables us to deliver groundbreaking crypto products with enhanced transparency and trust for our growing customer base, while further reiterating our commitment to crypto as an asset class.”

There is no clearer evidence that increased regulation designed to foster rather than suppress innovation and development leads directly to greater adoption of cryptos. The EU’s tax coffers will benefit.