Celebrating America’s 250th anniversary! Will Trump seek to pardon 250 people—will the founders of FTX and Tornado be selected?

U.S. President Trump is reportedly considering a 250-person clemency program, drawing attention from the crypto community. The market is buzzing about whether the developers behind privacy-disputed mixing protocols and whether SBF could be included in the list.

Trump floated a “250-person clemency plan,” and the crypto community is highly focused on the movements of the roster

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, U.S. President Trump is considering pushing a large-scale clemency program during the United States’ 250th anniversary of its founding, which is expected to pardon about 250 criminals. After the news was leaked, the cryptocurrency industry also began discussing it, including whether crypto figures involved in major cases in recent years have a chance to be added to the clemency list.

The people the market is currently most focused on include convicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), as well as privacy-related case parties such as Tornado Cash co-founders Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev. Because Trump has continued to send friendly signals to the crypto industry over the past year, some supporters have started speculating whether the White House might re-examine certain crypto-related cases.

When Trump recently discussed a clemency plan with his staff, he mentioned the desire to echo the symbolic significance of the United States’ 250th anniversary through a “250-person clemency.” However, the White House has not yet released an official list.

Tornado Cash case continues to unfold, and the crypto community rallies behind the developers

Among all potential candidates being discussed, the Tornado Cash-related case is drawing particular attention from the crypto community. Some crypto supporters believe that the U.S. government’s enforcement actions against Tornado Cash developers in recent years raise a core question: whether “code is protected 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 laundering money using the tool, and therefore imposed sanctions on the protocol. However, the crypto community and some developers have long criticized the U.S. government for directly equating open-source code development with criminal activities, which could have a chilling effect on the broader open-source software industry.

At present, Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm is still facing U.S. judicial proceedings, and a Dutch court has already issued a ruling for another developer, Alexey Pertsev. Many crypto supporters believe that if Trump really pushes a large-scale clemency, crypto privacy cases could become a symbolic political issue.

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

Could SBF be pardoned? The market responds with mixed opinions

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

Some market participants believe the likelihood of SBF receiving a pardon is relatively low. The reason is that the FTX incident involved a large number of victims and intense political pressure. In particular, SBF’s case dealt a severe blow to confidence among U.S. retail investors and institutional investors, and it also prompted U.S. regulators to accelerate high-pressure enforcement actions against the crypto industry.

• Related news: Against the FTX scandal without any leniency, Trump said no clemency—SBF’s appeal hopes are officially dashed

However, some supporters also believe that in the past Trump has repeatedly demonstrated the political symbolism of clemency. Whether he will package certain crypto cases as examples of “excessive government regulation” in the future is still up for discussion.

Crypto regulation is gradually becoming a focal point of political power struggle in the U.S.

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

As the U.S. election draws closer, issues related to the crypto industry are quickly becoming politicized. Topics such as crypto regulation, privacy tools, and financial freedom are also gradually shifting from technology and finance matters to becoming part of the U.S. political power struggle.