Celebrating 250 years of America! Trump plans to pardon 250 people, will FTX and Tornado founders be chosen?

U.S. President Trump is reportedly considering a 250-person presidential clemency plan, drawing attention from the crypto community. The market is abuzz about whether developers of privacy-controversial mixing protocols and SBF are likely to be included.

Trump floated a “250-person clemency plan,” and the crypto community is closely watching the list updates

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, U.S. President Trump is considering pushing for a large-scale clemency plan during the 250th anniversary of American independence, with the expectation of pardoning about 250 criminals. After the news was exposed, the cryptocurrency industry also began discussing it, including whether prominent figures in the crypto industry involved in major cases in recent years might have a chance to be added to the clemency list.

At present, the market is most focused on individuals including the FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), who has already been convicted, as well as parties involved in cases related to privacy protocols such as Roman Storm, the founder of Tornado Cash, and Alexey Pertsev. Because Trump has continued to send friendly signals to the crypto industry over the past year, some supporters have started to speculate whether the White House might review certain crypto-related cases again.

When Trump recently discussed clemency proposals with his staff, he mentioned the hope of echoing the symbolic significance of the 250th anniversary of American independence through “a 250-person clemency.” However, the White House has not yet announced an official list.

The Tornado Cash case continues to escalate, and the crypto community shows support for the developers

Among all the people who could potentially be discussed, the Tornado Cash-related case has received special attention from the crypto community. Some crypto supporters believe that the U.S. government’s enforcement actions against Tornado Cash developers in recent years involve a core issue: whether “code is speech.”

Tornado Cash is an Ethereum-based privacy mixing protocol. The U.S. Department of the Treasury previously accused North Korea’s Lazarus Group of using the tool to launder money, and therefore imposed sanctions on the protocol. However, the crypto community and some developers have long criticized that the U.S. government directly equates open-source code development with criminal conduct, which could lead to a chilling effect on the broader open-source software industry.

Currently, Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm is still facing U.S. judicial proceedings, and a Dutch court has already issued a decision regarding another developer, Alexey Pertsev. Many crypto supporters believe that if Trump truly pushes a large-scale clemency effort, crypto privacy cases could become symbolic political issues.

• Related news: Tornado Cash sanctions case ends! U.S. Treasury drops the appeal, and TORN jumps more than 5%

Could SBF be pardoned? The market reacts in polar opposite ways

Compared with the Tornado Cash developers’ case, which involves technical and open-source disputes, the situation involving FTX founder SBF is even more sensitive. SBF was previously convicted of multiple charges including fraud, misappropriation of customer assets, and financial crimes, and is viewed as one of the most representative financial scandals in the crypto industry.

Some market participants believe that the likelihood of SBF receiving a pardon is relatively low. The reason is that the FTX incident involved a large number of victims and immense political pressure. In particular, the SBF case severely damaged confidence among U.S. retail investors and institutional investors, and also led U.S. regulators to accelerate high-pressure law enforcement against the crypto industry.

• Related news: No mercy in the face of the FTX scandal, Trump said no clemency—hopes to overturn SBF’s case officially dashed

However, some supporters also believe that in the past Trump has repeatedly used pardons to convey political symbolism. Whether he will package certain crypto cases as examples of “excessive government regulation” in the future remains a topic of discussion.

Crypto regulation is gradually becoming a focal point in U.S. political battles

Trump’s attitude toward cryptocurrencies has clearly changed over the past year. In addition to openly supporting Bitcoin mining and digital asset innovation, during the campaign he also actively sought funding and supporters from the crypto industry. Within the Republican Party, attitudes toward cryptocurrencies are also increasingly forming a stark contrast with the Democrats.

As the U.S. election draws nearer, issues related to the crypto industry are rapidly becoming politicized. Topics such as crypto regulation, privacy tools, and financial freedom are also gradually shifting from being technology and finance issues into part of U.S. political struggles.