CZ's New Book Reveals Ten Major Secrets: Insider Knowledge of "September 4th" in Advance, Huobi Ownership Change Details Disclosed for the First Time

Original | Odaily (@OdailyChina)

Author | Golem (@web3_golem)

On April 8th, Binance founder CZ's (Changpeng Zhao) new book "Freedom of Money" (Chinese title: Binance Life) was officially released. Users can now purchase the e-book version on Amazon's official website. Users in China can also buy and read it on Xianyu for 1.99 RMB.

"Freedom of Money" is a memoir written by CZ from a first-person perspective. It chronologically reviews his journey from rural Jiangsu and Hefei, immigrating to Canada, working in technology and finance in Tokyo, New York, and Shanghai, to discovering Bitcoin in 2013, selling his house to invest in the crypto industry, and ultimately founding Binance in 2017. The latter half of the book focuses on crisis management as Binance grew, the FTX incident, global regulatory conflicts, and his experiences of pleading guilty in the US in 2023, serving his sentence, and being pardoned after release.

"Freedom of Money" is approximately 180,000 words. For a memoir by a celebrity/entrepreneur, this is a medium length, but a complete read-through still takes about 6-9 hours. To help readers quickly grasp the core highlights of CZ's new book and his previously undisclosed personal experiences, Odaily has distilled and summarized the content of "Freedom of Money." If you find this summary intriguing, we recommend purchasing the book for the full reading experience.

1. Almost Became Mt.Gox's China CEO, Lost 100 BTC in Platform Collapse

In early 2014, CZ was recommended to become the CEO of Mt.Gox's China operations. The final proposal was for Susquehanna to provide funding, Mt.Gox to provide technology, and CZ to be responsible for the China business, also receiving 10% equity. However, just before the contract was signed, Mt.Gox collapsed on February 7, 2014, suspending user withdrawals, so CZ decided not to join.

But CZ wasn't unscathed. After Mt.Gox collapsed, the 100 bitcoins he had stored on Mt.Gox (worth $50,000 at the time, approximately $7 million today) were also lost. However, CZ did not pursue recovery.

2. Whitepaper Completed in Three Days, Binance ICO Raised $15 Million

In 2017, Binance's whitepaper was completed within three days. This process included CZ learning about the concept of an ICO to the final release of the Chinese and English versions. On June 14, 2017, CZ attended a hotpot gathering in Chongqing organized by Guo Hongcai (known in the crypto circle as Bao Erye). After the dinner, he decided to proceed with an ICO and, together with Yang Linke at the time, aimed to raise $15 million. BNB was thus born.

Bao Erye also voluntarily became one of Binance's initial advisors during the ICO and requested an allocation of BNB tokens. Binance conducted a total of 5 ICO rounds, all selling out within seconds. When the final ICO round ended on July 2, 2017, CZ successfully raised the equivalent of $15 million in digital assets. CZ wrote in his memoir that the entire team stayed in the office, but the celebration was simply ordering slightly more refined takeout, with about twenty people taking turns to serve themselves and eating at their workstations.

At that time, CZ also gave all employees BNB equivalent to one month's salary at the ICO price of $0.10. CZ also allocated 50,000 BNB to himself, which he never touched. By the time of writing the book, it was worth over $24 million.

3. How the Name "Binance" Was Coined with He Yi, Who Joined the Company the Day Before Launch

On June 17, 2017, CZ invited He Yi to Binance's Shanghai office to help revise the whitepaper (Odaily Note: He Yi was still the CMO at Yixia Technology at this time). CZ wrote in his memoir that He Yi walked into the office, pointed at the whitepaper on the table, and said, "Your current Chinese name sounds like a supermarket." She then suggested changing it to "币安" (Binance). CZ immediately approved the name change on the spot, without consulting a feng shui master or holding repeated meetings.

However, CZ revealed in his memoir that all this was a "little trick" to lure He Yi into joining Binance. He believed the best way to recruit top talent was to get them involved first. Finally, on July 13, 2017, the night before Binance's launch, CZ called He Yi again. He Yi verbally agreed to join Binance and submitted her resignation to her former company the next day.

4. Received Advance Warning Before the "September 4th Ban," Removed SIM Card to Prevent Tracking

On September 4, 2017, seven Chinese ministries jointly issued an announcement explicitly prohibiting cryptocurrency exchange operations, cryptocurrency mining, and ICOs. The night before, CZ wrote in his memoir that he received a message on his phone saying there would be a "major crackdown" the next day. At 12:30 AM that day, CZ and executives like He Yi urgently held a conference call, deciding that he, He Yi, and Heina would go to Tokyo first, while others would temporarily stay in Shanghai.

To prevent tracking, He Yi reminded CZ to remove his phone's SIM card and turn it off during the journey, which CZ did. However, He Yi later told CZ that this idea came from spy movies she had watched, and she wasn't sure if they would actually be tracked.

5. Xu Mingxing Continuously Spread Rumors About CZ and He Yi; Li Lin Imprisoned Due to Xu Mingxing's Report

Early in his career, CZ also worked at the exchange OKCoin (Odaily Note: the predecessor of OKX) founded by Xu Mingxing. However, CZ wrote in his memoir that in January 2015, Xu Mingxing attempted to renegotiate the 10% OKCoin equity CZ held. Dissatisfied, CZ resigned.

According to CZ's recollection, after he left, Xu Mingxing continued to accuse him of forging a cooperation contract between Roger Ver and OKCoin during his tenure. After CZ clarified on Reddit, Xu Mingxing began personal attacks against him. Simultaneously, he pressured He Yi to publicly criticize CZ, but she refused and chose to resign.

In 2022, two prominent figures in the Chinese crypto community, Xu Mingxing and Li Lin, were detained. Li Lin was under house arrest for 90 days before finally deciding to sell Huobi to Justin Sun. However, in 2025, CZ wrote in his book that during a dinner, Li Lin told him he had seen a screenshot showing 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; CZ Refused to Lend a Hand After FTX Collapsed

The collapse of FTX in 2022 was a major event in the crypto industry. CZ also detailed his "grudge" with SBF and his real thoughts during the FTX collapse in "Freedom of Money."

At the Binance Blockchain Week in January 2019, CZ first met SBF. At that time, SBF was still the CEO of Alameda. CZ wrote in the book that SBF seemed quite intelligent with high emotional intelligence—"saying the right thing to the right person."

A few months later, just one month after FTX launched, SBF approached CZ for investment. Although Binance's CFO was very optimistic about FTX at the time, CZ and He Yi still refused to invest. In November 2019, FTX lowered Binance's valuation and proposed swapping BNB for FTT, which CZ agreed to. He wrote in his memoir, "From a business perspective, the terms were good." Ultimately, Binance held a 20% stake in FTX.

CZ wrote in his memoir that after the investment was completed, SBF changed his tune, not only poaching Binance's VIP account managers and several employees who "valued money" but also bad-mouthing Binance everywhere in Washington. So, although Binance was still a shareholder of FTX, the relationship between CZ and SBF reached a freezing point.

Therefore, when FTX collapsed in 2022, the first message SBF sent to CZ for help was, "Has our relationship deteriorated to the point where we don't even talk?" Subsequently, the two communicated, and SBF then mentioned needing a multi-billion dollar investment.

CZ stated bluntly in his memoir, "I didn't want FTX, and I didn't want to help SBF. But to protect users and the industry, I had to intervene." The rest of the story is well-known. Binance and FTX signed a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI). On November 8th, SBF announced on Twitter that Binance intended to acquire FTX. On November 9th, Binance decided to withdraw from the deal.

7. Rejected a $20 Million Listing Fee, Personally Established Listing Rules

The雏形 of Binance's strict listing management regulations today was already formed during CZ's time. CZ recalled that when Binance entered the top ten global exchanges, a project directly offered him a personal $20 million "listing fee," but CZ refused on the spot and blacklisted them.

Because of this incident, CZ realized the need to establish a standardized, transparent listing mechanism. He personally drafted the "Binance Listing Guidelines,"明确规定 all applications must be submitted through the official website form, and the listing team must be "physically isolated" from project teams. CZ also mentioned in his memoir that he often saw listing heads of other exchanges busy handing out business cards and networking at various conferences, a practice he never agreed with.

8. Invested in Twitter to Become a Small Shareholder in SpaceX, Praised Musk for Seeing Through SBF

In 2022, news that CZ contributed $500 million to support Musk's acquisition of Twitter was widely circulated in the crypto circle. Regarding this, CZ wrote in his memoir that his reason for participating in the investment was that Binance aimed for financial freedom, which necessitated supporting freedom of speech.

CZ said the investment process was曲折, but it was completed in the end. For the $500 million investment, he only attended a few meetings. CZ wrote in the book that he remains a small shareholder in Twitter (now called X). As X later merged with xAI, he also became a small shareholder in xAI. And as xAI merged with SpaceX, he ultimately became a tiny shareholder in SpaceX.

At the same time, CZ didn't forget to take a jab at SBF here. He later learned that SBF also wanted to invest in Twitter but was rejected by Musk, praising Musk for his accurate judgment of people.

9. Suffered from Back Pain Since Adolescence

CZ wrote in his memoir that he has been plagued by back pain since his teenage years, possibly inherited from his father or due to prolonged sitting. At 17, he experienced his first "back spasm." By 2019, the pain intensified, causing CZ to spend most of that year working from bed: laptop on a stand, iPad and iPhone propped up beside him.

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

10. Wrote the Book in Prison, Taught Cryptocurrency to Inmates

On April 30, 2024, CZ was sentenced to prison by the US government. On May 31, he was sent to the low-security federal prison in Lompoc, California, to begin serving his four-month sentence. CZ wrote in his memoir that the first draft of this book was written in prison. Prison computers were basically like electronic typewriters—no copy-paste, no internet connection. To revise a paragraph, you had to retype it entirely, so most of the book's content was written from memory, paragraph by paragraph.

Later during his sentence, CZ was transferred to a halfway house, where he was approved to volunteer. One of the volunteer tasks was helping to create cryptocurrency educational materials for inmates. CZ mentioned he mostly copied and pasted content from Binance Academy.