On April 8, the founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), released his book titled Freedom of Money. In it, he discusses the creation of the exchange, his imprisonment, the collapse of FTX, and an amusing encounter with former SEC chairman Gary Gensler.
The book Freedom of Money is live in some countries already.
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) April 8, 2026
It seems the book will be available to everyone on April 8th at 12:00 AM in their own time zone.
If you have trouble falling asleep at midnight today, grab a copy today. All proceeds go to charity.
English 👉…
All proceeds from the book sales will be donated to charity, as promised by CZ.
The foreword was written by Binance co-founder Yi He, who has worked with Zhao since 2014. She currently serves as co-CEO alongside Richard Teng.
The main theme of the memoir is encapsulated in its title. According to Zhao, the freedom of money lies in cryptocurrencies' ability to eliminate barriers to financial accessibility, especially in regions with weak banking infrastructure or strict capital controls.
The text is complemented by numerous personal photos from Zhao's archive, ranging from his family's move to Vancouver and his first computer to images with Vitalik Buterin and the urgent relocation of Binance's office from China following the cryptocurrency ban.
CZ has revealed many photos for the first time in his newly released autobiography:
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) April 8, 2026
A photo of CZ with his sister and parents on August 6, 1989, when they first arrived at Vancouver Airport.
In 1990, CZ first encountered the x286 computer in Vancouver.
In 2014, CZ took… pic.twitter.com/LLsruv75NV
FTX Collapse Version
CZ revealed that during a phone call in November 2022, prior to Binance's attempt to acquire FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried asked him for "a couple of billion dollars."
According to the Binance founder, the request was made casually, "as if it were about a sandwich." Zhao initially had no intention of making a deal, and the letter of intent was merely a formality to assess the situation and protect users.
"I had no desire to own FTX. I also didn't particularly care about helping Sam Bankman-Fried. But I thought we might need to intervene to protect users and the industry," he added.
Changpeng Zhao and Sam Bankman-Fried. Source: X.
CZ believes that the starting point of the FTX collapse was a public statement by former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison. Her offer to buy Binance's assets in FTT tokens at $22 to stabilize the market was deemed a fatal mistake.
By revealing the minimum support price, Ellison prompted professional traders to open short positions below that level. The token fell to $15 and then to $5. Within 72 hours, $6 billion was withdrawn from the exchange.
CZ also discussed a group chat on Exchange Collaboration in the Signal messenger. The chat was created by FTX employee Zane Takett during the Terra/LUNA crash. Besides Zhao and Bankman-Fried, the chat included Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Kraken's Jesse Powell.
Later, this chat attracted the interest of investigators from the Department of Justice and the SEC.
"They were looking for any hints of collusion or manipulation between exchanges. Of course, in our case, there was nothing of the sort," CZ stated.
On November 9, Binance backed out of acquiring its competitor. The platform's own holdings in FTT, which peaked at $580 million, became worthless. Zhao compared this situation to losing $1.6 billion on investments in LUNA six months earlier.
A run on the exchange began: on December 14, $7 billion was withdrawn in a single day. CZ admitted he was worried since all user funds were in reserves. However, within a month, clients returned their deposits, even exceeding previous levels.
Incident with the SEC Chairman and "Behind-the-Scenes Maneuvering"
In 2019, Zhao met then-former CFTC official Gary Gensler and offered him a position as an advisor at Binance, but received a refusal.
On March 29, 2019, in Tokyo, CZ posed for a photo with former CFTC official Gary Gensler. He did not anticipate the future SEC chairman's crackdown on cryptocurrencies. pic.twitter.com/1nOAIkGJAu
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) April 8, 2026
At that time, Gensler was already planning to lead the SEC, which he eventually did. Notably, it was under his chairmanship that the regulator filed a lawsuit against Binance, and Zhao served four months in an American prison.
In his autobiography, CZ also claims that Huobi founder Li Lin told him in 2025 that he was arrested due to a tip-off from OKX founder Star Xu. The latter denied the information.
1️⃣ This is purely false information.
— Star_OKX (@star_okx) April 8, 2026
In the Asian crypto industry, any sizable platform and founder faces numerous reports and complaints every year. If reports alone could determine outcomes, this industry would have ceased to exist long ago. Huobi's CEO has high emotional intelligence and has managed various individuals well over the years; he should not believe such nonsensical claims.
2️⃣… https://t.co/tulg5YGmaF
"After four months in prison, this person continues to spread nonsense to the world. I can only say: for someone who is used to lying, their true nature never changes," Xu stated.
Zhao also recalled how in May 2015, the head of OKX publicly accused him of forging signatures in contracts. This accusation, which CZ denied, severely damaged his business reputation, according to the book. In response, Xu published a post again to substantiate his claims.
I had no intention of revisiting these old issues involving CZ from when I was younger. But since I’ve been dragged into this again because of the book, let’s restate the facts.
— Star_OKX (@star_okx) April 8, 2026
During his time at OKCoin, evidence of contract falsification was already made public on the internet… https://t.co/c9RzpjiPqV
Previously, Zhao shared in an interview with Colin Wu his childhood, move to Canada, and Binance's success.
It is worth noting that in March 2026, a U.S. court dismissed a lawsuit against the exchange and CZ regarding terrorism financing.