Overview
- Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has published Freedom of Money, a memoir detailing his exchange’s trajectory and legal consequences.
- The former CEO acknowledges that Binance’s explosive expansion exceeded its ability to implement adequate compliance measures.
- Zhao details his guilty plea to US authorities and his four-month incarceration experience throughout 2024.
- The memoir includes CZ’s perspective on the short-lived negotiations to potentially rescue FTX during its November 2022 implosion.
- According to Zhao, Caroline Ellison’s public offer to purchase FTT tokens at $22 inadvertently triggered the token’s rapid decline.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has unveiled his personal memoir titled Freedom of Money, providing his perspective on the exchange’s remarkable ascent, regulatory battles, and incarceration experience.
In his latest autobiography, CZ discusses SBF:
In 2022, on the eve of FTX's collapse, CZ considered rescuing FTX. However, when he discovered that SBF's team couldn't even produce a complete balance sheet within 24h, he gave up.
He believes SBF's business logic wasn't based… pic.twitter.com/ZJqfQ5gPJj
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) April 8, 2026
The comprehensive 364-page publication traces CZ’s journey from his initial ventures in traditional finance and tech sectors through Binance’s 2017 establishment. Binance co-founder Yi He penned the foreword for the volume.
According to Zhao, the narrative surrounding his career has been predominantly constructed through journalism, legal documentation, and public discourse. This memoir represents his effort to contribute his personal perspective to the existing record.
Binance achieved dominance as the planet’s leading cryptocurrency trading platform within an exceptionally brief timeframe. The book chronicles this explosive growth trajectory and the mounting challenges inherent in managing a worldwide operation.
Explosive Expansion and Regulatory Consequences
A significant portion of the memoir addresses the criminal prosecution brought by American authorities against both Zhao personally and Binance as an entity. During 2024, the former executive completed a four-month prison sentence following his guilty plea to charges of breaching anti-money-laundering regulations.
The comprehensive resolution required Zhao’s resignation from his position as Binance’s chief executive officer. The exchange committed to multi-billion-dollar financial penalties alongside implementing sweeping compliance overhauls.
Federal regulators had conducted a multi-year investigation into Binance concerning deficient anti-money-laundering protocols, sanctions enforcement gaps, and regulatory licensing violations. This settlement represented one of the most substantial enforcement actions within the cryptocurrency industry’s history.
Throughout the book, CZ examines critical choices made during Binance’s period of hypergrowth. He acknowledges that the platform’s operational expansion dramatically outstripped the development of adequate compliance infrastructure.
The volume additionally chronicles his federal incarceration experience. Zhao describes the jarring transition from helming a worldwide enterprise to adapting to the rigid constraints of prison life.
CZ connects the book’s title to his philosophical belief that cryptocurrency technology can democratize financial access. He recounts how customers in developing nations utilized Binance to facilitate cross-border transactions, hedge against domestic currency depreciation, and access international financial systems.
CZ’s Account of FTX’s Spectacular Downfall
An additional chapter examines Binance’s fleeting exploration of potentially acquiring the failing FTX exchange during November 2022. Zhao recounts that Sam Bankman-Fried requested several billion dollars during their telephone conversation prior to Binance executing a preliminary, non-binding agreement.
Based on CZ’s narrative, he maintains he had no genuine intention to complete an FTX acquisition. He characterizes the signed letter of intent as merely a mechanism allowing Binance to conduct financial due diligence and evaluate potential user protection measures.
Zhao contends that Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison’s public proposal to purchase Binance’s FTT token holdings at a $22 price point proved catastrophic. He asserts this publicly stated valuation provided market participants with a clear resistance level to target for selling pressure.
He documents FTT’s subsequent rapid depreciation while FTX simultaneously processed approximately $6 billion in customer withdrawal requests within a 72-hour window. Binance officially terminated acquisition discussions on November 9th.
CZ additionally discusses a Signal messaging group designated “Exchange Collaboration,” originally established during the Terra-Luna market crisis, which subsequently attracted scrutiny from Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission investigators. He firmly rejects allegations of any coordinated market manipulation.
The memoir further details how Binance subsequently managed an intense withdrawal surge, including processing $7 billion in redemption requests during a single day in December 2022, and notes that customer deposits eventually stabilized and increased thereafter.
