Update (April 8, 2026, 6:21 am UTC): This article has been updated to include a comment from a spokesperson for CZ.
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s new memoir has reignited a long‑running feud with OKX founder Star Xu, who accused the Binance founder and former chief of lying about their shared history and past disputes.
In Freedom of Money, released Wednesday, CZ revisits a contract dispute at OKX Coin and alleges rivals sought to undermine him with “fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD),” portraying him as an inept chief technical officer. CZ also says Huobi founder Leon Li told him in 2025 that he believed Xu had reported Li to authorities years earlier.
Xu denied reporting Li and, in posts on X, called CZ “a habitual liar,” disputing multiple claims in the book and reviving earlier accusations that CZ forged contract documents.
The memoir revisits October 2020, when OKX (then OKEx) paused customer withdrawals for five weeks while Xu was reportedly under “soft arrest” in China, suggesting “Xu alone held the keys” to exchange wallets. CZ contrasts that episode with Huobi’s decision not to halt withdrawals during Li’s detention a month later, saying Huobi “had a better wallet setup.”
Xu says the memoir misrepresents key parts of the story, including CZ’s tenure at OKCoin, the contract dispute with Roger Ver, allegations about market manipulation, alleged informant activity involving Justin Sun and even Xu’s “current marital status.”
Xu resurfaced OKCoin’s 2015 rebuttal of CZ’s earlier allegations and a notarized chat video the exchange released at the time. The publicly available video shows an OKCoin accountant’s QQ account being accessed in front of a notary and purports to display CZ sending two versions of the Bitcoin.com agreement (v7 and v8) on Dec. 16, 2014, with the controversial six‑month termination clause appearing in v8.
At the time, CZ explained he rarely used QQ and suggested another OKCoin employee might have logged into his account and fabricated the chat history; Xu questioned that defense: “Do you believe such an explanation?”
OKCoin’s 2015 statement on Reddit accused CZ of forging Roger Ver’s signature on the v8 contract, overstating his technical contributions as chief technical officer, running his own trading bots and waging a public campaign of “lies and desperate nonsense” after leaving the company.
CZ’s memoir offers a sharply different narrative, portraying himself as the target of coordinated attacks from rival exchanges seeking to slow Binance’s rise, including last‑minute funding withdrawals during Binance’s 2017 initial coin offering. The book extends the rivalry to the 2020 custody incidents and reiterates CZ’s claim that Li believed Xu had reported him.
Xu called that claim “purely false information,” arguing that complaints against large exchanges are common and do not determine enforcement outcomes, and telling Li he “shouldn’t believe this kind of nonsense that defies common sense.”
Xu also disputed claims that CZ “personally manipulated the market” or “acted as a tainted witness to report Justin Sun,” but has so far relied on previously released OKCoin materials rather than presenting new evidence.
By publication time CZ had not publicly replied to Xu’s latest posts challenging the memoir. A spokesperson for CZ told Cointelegraph that while Freedom of Money touches on past events, “it is not intended to be an investigative book on legacy disputes.” They said the book reflects CZ’s personal perspective and readers can evaluate his account directly and draw their own conclusions, noting a disclaimer on page 4 that provides additional context.
Cointelegraph reached out to Xu for comment but had not received a response by publication.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently. Read our Editorial Policy: https://cointelegraph.com/editorial-policy
