一名 Circle 股东对特朗普发起的诉讼将 CZ 的赦免和 MGX–Binance USD1 交易置于核心地位

J. Benjamin Greenberg, a shareholder of Circle Internet Group, has filed a derivative lawsuit, Greenberg v. Trump (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:26-cv-03686), against President Donald Trump, World Liberty Financial and related entities, and Steve Witkoff, with Circle named as nominal defendant. It was filed on 22 October 2026. [1][2][3][4]

Why it matters for CZ. Changpeng Zhao and Binance are not parties, but the complaint leans heavily on them. It describes MGX's US$2 billion investment in Binance (announced March 2025) being settled in World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin, and alleges that "Binance shaped that choice". It says that in late April 2025 Zhao met Zach Witkoff at a private Binance summit in Abu Dhabi, and that World Liberty began issuing the USD1 for the deal the following evening. [1]

The complaint lists Zhao's pardon as one of several outcomes that, it alleges, followed the UAE's crypto payments. It says Zhao applied for a pardon in mid-to-late April 2025, shortly before World Liberty announced USD1 would be used for the MGX investment; it notes Trump pardoned him on 21 October 2025 and cites lobbying spending by Binance in 2025 (about US$800,000 across four firms, including US$260,000 to BakerHostetler for work on "executive relief"). It also alleges Zhao lives in Abu Dhabi, holds Emirati citizenship and is close to Sheikh Tahnoon. [1]

Denials. The complaint itself records that Binance and World Liberty deny Binance arranged the use of USD1 — Binance's lawyer has said Binance "did not control the stablecoin chosen by MGX" — and that the President and his administration deny his business interests influenced these decisions. [1] Bitcoin.com News reported that Circle, World Liberty and the White House rejected the suit. [4]

Status. This is a newly filed complaint; none of its allegations have been tested in court. The docket is public on Justia and CourtListener. [2][1] The case was flagged on X by @micyoung75. [5]

Background: [[pardon-of-changpeng-zhao]], [[legal-affairs]], [[binance]].