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Today in crypto, Changpeng Zhao has responded forcefully to The Wall Street Journal’s latest report linking the former Binance CEO’s crypto dealings with the Trump-back decentralized finance platform World Liberty Financial, United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner Summer Mersinger said crypto perpetual futures could soon come to the US, and lawmakers plan to amend the GENIUS Act to bar sitting presidents from profiting off stablecoins.

CZ refutes claims in latest WSJ article on Trump-linked crypto dealings

Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has pushed back against a report in The Wall Street Journal, calling it a “hit piece” filled with inaccuracies and negative assumptions. 

In an X post, Zhao criticized the publication’s portrayal of his alleged involvement with World Liberty Financial, the decentralized finance project backed by a business entity affiliated with US President Donald Trump. Trump’s sons — Eric and Donald Jr. —are involved in the management of the company.

Zhao said the WSJ article portrayed him as acting as a “fixer” for the WLF team and its co-founder Zach Witkoff during foreign trips. 

The article suggested Zhao facilitated introductions and meetings for WLF leaders during foreign trips, including a visit to Pakistan that reportedly resulted in a memorandum of understanding with a local official.

“I am not a fixer for anyone,” Zhao said, firmly denying that he connected Pakistani official “Mr. Saqib” with WLF or organized any engagements abroad. “They had known each other way back, whereas I only met with Mr. Saqib for the first time in Pakistan.” 

Crypto perp futures coming “very soon” to US: CFTC’s Mersinger

Outgoing Commodities and Futures Trading Commission Commissioner Summer Mersinger said on May 22 that the regulator could greenlight crypto perpetual futures contracts “very soon.”

“We’re seeing some applications, and I believe we’ll see some of those products trading live very soon,” she told Bloomberg TV, adding it would be “great to get that trading back onshore in the United States.” 

Crypto perpetual futures are derivative contracts that allow traders to speculate, often with high leverage, on the price of a cryptocurrency without actually owning it and can be held indefinitely.

Mersinger, who will leave the CFTC at the end of May to join the crypto lobby group the Blockchain Association as CEO, said having crypto derivatives trading and regulated in the US would be a “really good thing for these markets and would be really beneficial to the industry broadly.”

Senators plan to amend GENIUS Act to address Trump family's stablecoin

Though a majority of members of the US Senate voted to advance a bill to regulate payment stablecoins on May 20, high-ranking Democrats are planning to propose an amendment to the legislation to address President Donald Trump’s connections to the cryptocurrency industry.

According to a May 22 Axios report, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley will file an amendment to the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act, to block a US president from profiting from stablecoins. The proposed amendment would come after 18 Democrats sided with Republicans in the Senate in voting to advance the bill on May 20 after it failed a procedural vote on May 8.

“Passing the GENIUS Act without our anti-corruption amendment stamps a Congressional seal of approval on Trump selling access and influence to the highest bidder,” Merkley said in a May 22 X post.

Trump and his three sons are involved in the crypto platform World Liberty Financial (WLFI), which launched its USD1 stablecoin in March. Critics have pointed out that the president could continue to personally benefit from legislation that helps recognize stablecoins like USD1 as financial instruments in the US. 

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