Update (April 8, 2026, 06:21 UTC): This story was updated to include a comment from a spokesperson for CZ.
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s new memoir, Freedom of Money, has reopened a long‑running public dispute with OKX founder Star Xu. In the book, CZ revisits several episodes from the early crypto exchange wars—most notably a contract dispute tied to OKCoin/OKX—and accuses rival actors of using “fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD)” to undermine him and portray him as an inept chief technology officer.
Among the claims in the memoir, CZ says Huobi founder Leon Li told him in 2025 that Li believed Xu had reported him to authorities years earlier. Xu strongly denies that allegation and, in posts on X, called CZ “a habitual liar,” rejecting multiple points in the book and renewing earlier accusations that CZ forged contract documents.
Freedom of Money returns to October 2020, when OKX (then OKEx) paused customer withdrawals for about five weeks while Xu was reported to be under a form of detention in China. CZ argues that episode showed Xu effectively controlled exchange wallet access and contrasts it with Huobi’s handling of customer withdrawals a month later during Li’s own detention, saying Huobi’s wallet arrangement was superior.
Xu rejects CZ’s rendition of those events and disputes other factual assertions in the memoir, including CZ’s description of his time at OKCoin, the contract fight involving Roger Ver, alleged market manipulation, purported informant activity connected to Justin Sun and even details about Xu’s personal life.
To bolster his counterargument, Xu pointed to OKCoin’s 2015 rebuttal of earlier allegations and a notarized video the exchange released at the time. That video, which is publicly available, shows an OKCoin accountant’s QQ account being accessed before a notary and appears to display CZ sending two versions of a Bitcoin.com agreement (versions 7 and 8) on Dec. 16, 2014. The contentious six‑month termination clause appears in version 8.
At the time of the 2015 dispute, CZ said he rarely used QQ and suggested someone else at OKCoin might have logged into his account and fabricated the chat record. Xu has publicly questioned that explanation.
OKCoin’s 2015 statement on Reddit accused CZ of forging Roger Ver’s signature on the v8 contract, exaggerating his technical role at the company, operating his own trading bots and engaging in a public campaign of “lies and desperate nonsense” after leaving OKCoin.
CZ’s memoir advances a different narrative: he portrays himself as the target of coordinated efforts by rival exchanges to slow Binance’s ascent. The book revisits alleged last‑minute funding withdrawals during Binance’s 2017 initial coin offering and extends the rivalry through the 2020 custody incidents, reiterating CZ’s claim that Li believed Xu had reported him.
Xu dismissed the claim that he reported Li as “purely false information,” saying complaints against large exchanges are routine and do not automatically trigger enforcement. He told Li not to accept assertions “that defy common sense,” according to his post.
Xu also disputed allegations that CZ personally manipulated markets or acted as a compromised witness in matters involving Justin Sun. So far, Xu has cited previously released OKCoin materials to rebut CZ rather than presenting new documentary evidence.
By the time of publication, 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.” The spokesperson added the memoir reflects CZ’s personal perspective and that readers should evaluate his account directly; they also noted a disclaimer on page 4 of the book providing additional context.
Cointelegraph contacted Xu for comment but had not received a response by publication.
This article aims to report the competing claims and denials around CZ’s memoir and the resurfaced OKCoin materials so readers can assess the dispute themselves.