CZ's memoirs restore what happened 72 hours after Binance attempted to acquire FTX in November 2022 November 8th, 2022, 9:47 AM. A message has arrived. The sender is SBF There is only one number: 8 billion US dollars. Eight billion dollars of client funds have disappeared somewhere without boundaries - between an unbalanced balance sheet and accounts that should never be moved. --- CZ stared at the screen. It's the screen where he has viewed the chart a thousand times. This time, the numbers don't move. It just sits there, waiting for a decision. He called a small meeting. A trustworthy person who doesn't keep records. We can do it, "someone said," we are the only ones with a large enough size The logic is very clear. If FTX falls, the contagion will be real - not metaphorical. Every exchange will face a wave of withdrawals, every borrower will freeze, and this industry built in five years will collapse within a few weeks. CZ asks questions. He asked many questions: What is the true liquidity of FTX? What assets do they hold? How many implicit liabilities are there? How many people still know about this matter? How long has Sam known this number? But we will never get a complete answer. However, it is sufficient to indicate that without intervention, FTX will collapse within a few days, and then other parts of the industry will collapse along with it. At 2:15 pm, he signed the letter of intent for acquisition. Unrestricted, numerical handshake. Reuters later recorded the entire timeline: Binance announced its intention to acquire, the market briefly stabilized, and hope lasted for about six hours - then the next domino fell. I didn't feel hopeful, "CZ later wrote. I feel like I'm walking on an ice surface that's already starting to break --- That evening, the due diligence team entered the venue. A few hours later, the first report came back. That's not a gap, that's a black hole, "the analyst said CZ asked for details. The details forced him to close his laptop and stare out the window for a full ten minutes. He doesn't remember what's outside the window. He only remembers thinking of those users - those who put savings, trading profits, and the belief that 'this system is different from old finance' into FTX. Those who are unaware that their money has long been moved, used as collateral, and directly lent to Alameda Research. Alameda， Both are quantitative trading companies founded by SBF. The wall that should have separated customer assets from company operations simply doesn't exist. Protection has never happened. The entire architecture is built on sand. On November 9th, he made a phone call to Sam. The call lasted for four minutes. He asked direct questions. He received an answer that could not be considered an answer. But what made him feel bone chilling the most were not those numbers. It's the confidence in Sam's voice - the same kind that CZ heard in a hundred meetings and interviews. It seems like everything is fine, math can be flat, but skeptics don't understand. I understand, that's the real problem, "CZ later wrote --- On November 10th, Binance announced its withdrawal from the acquisition. Reuters recorded this reversal - from letter of intent to refusal to invest. The market responds. FTX filed for bankruptcy within a few hours. CZ's biggest concern is that something has happened, and panic is starting to spread. That night, he didn't sleep. He sat in a chair, watching the sun rise between the buildings in this city. The city doesn't know what will happen yet. But he knew that the industry he was involved in building was entering a winter of frozen trust, pessimism, and the belief that 'we are building something better'. He later wrote in the book what he learned from these three days: >Sometimes, the right decision is the one that saved you from your mistakes. Due diligence is not a bureaucratic procedure - it is the boundary between responsibility and complicity. Leaving sometimes requires more courage than staying. --- The collapse of FTX marked the beginning and end of the winter of 2022. In this story, CZ is in a peculiar position: he has the ability to flap his wings and is also the person who closes his computer and stares out the window for ten minutes after reading the due diligence report. He tried to prevent the disaster and ultimately chose not to be dragged into it. He can't save FTX. He chose to sit alone before dawn, watching the industry he didn't know if he had a chance to rebuild, and walking into its longest night. Then, two years later, the industry finally recovered and the sun rose again.