Original ｜Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina）

Author｜Golem（@web3_golem）

On April 8th, Binance founder CZ (Zhao Changpeng) officially released his new book "Freedom of Money" (Chinese name: Binance Life). Users can currently purchase the electronic version on Amazon, and Chinese users can also buy it on Xianyu for 1.99 yuan.

"Freedom of Money" is a memoir written from CZ's first-person perspective, reflecting on his journey from a rural area in Jiangsu, moving to Canada, working in technology and finance in Tokyo, New York, and Shanghai, to getting involved with Bitcoin in 2013, selling his house to invest in the crypto industry, and finally founding Binance in 2017. The latter half of the book focuses on crisis management after Binance's growth, the FTX incident, global regulatory conflicts, as well as his experience of pleading guilty in the U.S. in 2023, serving time, and being pardoned after release.

"Freedom of Money" is approximately 180,000 words long. In the genre of celebrity/entrepreneur memoirs, this word count is considered medium, but it still requires about 6-9 hours to read completely. To help readers quickly understand the core highlights of CZ's new book and his previously undisclosed personal experiences, Odaily Planet Daily has summarized and distilled the content of "Freedom of Money." If you still feel unsatisfied after reading this article, we recommend purchasing the book for a complete read.

1.Almost became the CEO of Mt.Gox in China, suffered losses of 100 BTC when the platform collapsed

In early 2014, CZ was recommended to become the CEO of Mt.Gox in China, ultimately negotiating a plan where Susquehanna would provide funding, MT.Gox would provide technology, and he would be responsible for the China business while also receiving a 10% equity stake. However, just before signing the contract, Mt.Gox collapsed on February 7, 2014, suspending user withdrawals, which led CZ to decide not to join.

Despite this, CZ was not without losses. After the collapse of Mt.Gox, he lost 100 bitcoins (worth $50,000 at the time, now worth about $7 million) that he held on the platform, but CZ did not pursue recovery.

2.Completed the white paper in three days, raised $15 million in Binance's ICO

In 2017, Binance's white paper was completed in just three days, a process that included CZ learning about the concept of ICO and ultimately releasing it in both Chinese and English versions. On June 14, 2017, CZ attended a hotpot gathering organized by Guo Hongcai (known in the crypto community as Baoyeye) in Chongqing, and after the meal, he decided to proceed with an ICO and raised $15 million with Yang Linke at the time. This is how BNB was born.

Baoyeye also proactively became the initial advisor during Binance's ICO and requested a portion of BNB tokens. Binance conducted a total of five rounds of ICOs, all of which sold out within seconds. By the end of the final ICO round on July 2, 2017, CZ successfully raised $15 million worth of digital assets. CZ wrote in his memoir that everyone was at the office, but the celebration consisted of ordering slightly fancier takeout, and a group of around twenty took turns serving food back to their workstations.

At the time, CZ also allocated BNB to all employees at the ICO price of $0.1, which was equivalent to one month's salary, and he allocated himself 50,000 BNB, which he has not touched. As of the time of writing the book, those BNB tokens had already gained a value exceeding $24 million.

3.How the name "Binance" came to be, joined the company the day before it launched

On June 17, 2017, CZ invited He Yi to the Binance Shanghai office to help revise the white paper (Note: At this time, He Yi was still working as CMO at Yixia Technology). CZ stated in his memoir that as soon as He Yi entered the office, she pointed at the white paper on the table and said, "Your current Chinese name sounds like a supermarket." She then suggested changing it to "Binance," and CZ immediately approved the name change without consulting a feng shui master or holding repeated meetings.

However, in the memoir, CZ mentions that this was a "little trick" to entice He Yi to join Binance, believing that to recruit top talent, the final approach is to get them to engage first. On the last night before Binance launched on July 13, 2017, CZ called He Yi again, and she verbally agreed to join Binance and submitted her resignation to her previous company the next day.

4.Got the news before the "September 4 Ban", fled early and removed SIM card to avoid tracking

On September 4, 2017, seven ministries in China jointly issued an announcement explicitly banning the operation of cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency mining, and ICOs. The night before, CZ mentioned in his memoir that he had received a message on his phone stating that there would be a "major regulation" the next day. At 12:30 AM that day, CZ held an emergency conference call with He Yi and other executives, ultimately deciding that he, He Yi, and Heina would go to Tokyo while the others temporarily remained in Shanghai.

To prevent being tracked, He Yi reminded CZ to take out his mobile SIM card and turn off his phone during the journey, which CZ complied with. However, He Yi later informed CZ that this idea came from a spy thriller she had watched, and she had no idea whether they would actually be tracked.

5.Xu Mingxing continued to spread rumors about CZ and He Yi, Li Lin was imprisoned due to Xu Mingxing's report

In the early years, CZ also worked at OKCoin, which was founded by Xu Mingxing (Note: OKX’s predecessor), but CZ stated in his memoir that in January 2015, Xu Mingxing attempted to renegotiate his 10% stake in OKXCoin, and CZ felt dissatisfied and resigned.

According to CZ's recollection, after his resignation, Xu Mingxing continued to accuse him of falsifying the cooperation contract between Roger Ver and OKCoin while he was employed. After CZ clarified on Reddit, Xu Mingxing began to personally attack him and pressured He Yi to publicly condemn CZ, but He Yi refused and chose to resign instead.

In 2022, two public figures, Xu Mingxing and Li Lin, were detained in the Chinese-speaking world. Li Lin was placed under house arrest for 90 days before finally deciding to sell Huobi to Sun Yuchen. However, in 2025, CZ stated in his book that during a dinner, Li Lin told him that he had seen a screenshot revealing that it was Xu Mingxing himself who reported him to the Chinese police, leading to his arrest.

6.Had a bad first impression of SBF, refused to lend a hand after FTX collapsed

The collapse of FTX in 2022 was a major event in the crypto industry, and CZ detailed the "grudges" between him and SBF and his true thoughts during the moment of FTX's collapse in "Freedom of Money."

CZ first met SBF at the Binance Blockchain Week in January 2019 when SBF was still the CEO of Alameda. CZ described SBF in his book as seeming quite smart and emotionally intelligent—"he would talk differently to everyone he met."

Months later, shortly after FTX was launched, SBF sought CZ's investment. Although Binance's CFO was optimistic about FTX, CZ and He Yi ultimately declined to invest. In November 2019, FTX lowered its valuation for Binance and proposed exchanging BNB for FTT, which CZ agreed to. He wrote in his memoir, "From a business perspective, the terms were good." Eventually, Binance ended up with a 20% stake in FTX.

CZ mentioned in his memoir that after the investment was completed, SBF's attitude changed; he not only poached Binance's VIP customer manager and several "money-minded" employees but also spoke ill of Binance everywhere in Washington. Thus, although Binance remained a shareholder of FTX, CZ and SBF's relationship fell to a freezing point.

So when FTX collapsed in 2022, SBF’s first message seeking help from CZ was, "Has our relationship deteriorated to the point where we don't even speak?" Afterward, the two communicated, and SBF mentioned needing billions of dollars in investments.

CZ plainly stated in his memoir, "I didn't want FTX, nor did I want to help SBF. But to protect the users and the industry, I had to get involved." The subsequent story is well known; Binance and FTX signed a non-binding letter of intent (LOI), and on November 8th, SBF announced on Twitter that Binance intended to acquire FTX, but on November 9th, Binance decided to withdraw from the deal.

7.Refused a $20 million listing fee, personally set the listing rules

The strict listing management regulations of Binance today were already taking shape during CZ's tenure. CZ recalled that when Binance entered the top ten global exchanges, a project party directly offered him a personal "listing fee" of $20 million, which CZ rejected on the spot and blacklisted them.

Due to this incident, CZ realized that it was necessary to establish a set of standardized and transparent listing mechanisms. Thus, he personally drafted the "Binance Listing Guidelines," which explicitly stated that all applications must be submitted through the official website, and the listing team must be "physically separated" from the project parties. At the same time, CZ also expressed in his memoir that he often saw the listing personnel from other exchanges busy exchanging business cards and building relationships at various meetings, and he never agreed with this practice.

8.Invested in Twitter and became a minor shareholder of SpaceX, praised Musk for seeing through SBF

In 2022, CZ’s investment of $500 million to support Musk's acquisition of Twitter became widely known in the crypto circle. Regarding this matter, CZ wrote in his memoir that he chose to participate in the investment because Binance advocates monetary freedom, hence they must support freedom of speech.

CZ stated that the investment process was quite convoluted, but fortunately, it was completed in the end, and he only attended a few meetings for the $500 million investment. CZ wrote that he remains a minor shareholder of Twitter (now called X), and since X later merged with xAI, he also became a minor shareholder of xAI. Then, as xAI merged with SpaceX, he finally became a minor shareholder of SpaceX.

At the same time, CZ did not forget to take a jab at SBF. He later learned that SBF also wanted to invest in Twitter but was rejected by Musk, praising Musk's keen sense of judgment.

9.Tormented by back pain since childhood

CZ mentioned in his memoir that he has been tormented by back pain since his teenage years, possibly inherited from his father or due to prolonged sitting; he first "threw out his back" at the age of 17. By 2019, the pain worsened, causing CZ to work most of that year lying in bed: his laptop set up on a stand, with an iPad and iPhone beside him.

In 2020, to resolve his back pain, CZ went to Berlin for surgery, but the surgery was unsuccessful, and the herniated disc recurred.

10.Wrote the book in prison, educated inmates about cryptocurrency

On April 30, 2024, CZ was sentenced to prison by the U.S. government, and by May 31, he had been sent to a low-security federal prison in Lompoc, California, to serve a four-month sentence. CZ wrote in his memoir that the first draft of this book was written in prison. The computers in the prison were akin to electronic typewriters, unable to copy and paste or connect to the internet, and any revisions required rewriting, so he composed most of the book's content from memory, section by section.

In the later stages of his sentence, CZ was transferred to a halfway house, where he was approved to volunteer, and one of the volunteer tasks was to help create cryptocurrency educational materials for inmates. CZ stated that he primarily copied and pasted from Binance Academy.

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