A Trump family representative held talks to buy a stake in Binance’s U.S. arm, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Thursday.
The stake could have been acquired through Trump-family backed crypto project World Liberty Financial, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Steve Witkoff, a friend of the U.S. president, was involved in the deal talks, the report added. Witkoff and his family founded World Liberty Financial two months before Trump was elected President in November.
The talks started last year after Binance reached out to Trump’s allies offering to reach a deal with the family so as to bring the crypto exchange back to the U.S.
BNB, the native cryptocurrency of the Binance linked BNB Chain, jumped as much as 5% on the news, surpassing $600 for the first time in a week.
A representative for Binance U.S. declined to comment on the report
UPDATE (March 11, 13:40 UTC): Adds BNB movement and Binance’s comment.