Changpeng Zhao (CZ), founder of Binance, published a 457-page memoir titled "Freedom of Money" on April 8. This book has already led to a public confrontation with OKX founder Star Xu.
This autobiography covers CZ's journey from rural China to establishing the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. However, the most shocking content revolves around claims involving other Chinese cryptocurrency giants such as Huobi founder Lirin and Tron (TRX) founder Justin Sun.
The roots of a decade-long rivalry
CZ joined OKCoin, the predecessor of OKX exchange, as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in mid-2014. His tenure was less than a year.
According to memoirs, CZ left the company in early 2015 after Star Xu attempted to renegotiate the 10% equity stake he held.
This departure was not smooth. A fierce contract dispute erupted immediately over the management rights of the Bitcoin.com domain.
CZ facilitated a transaction between OKCoin and Bitcoin (BTC) early investor Roger Ver. Ver agreed to hand over domain operations to the exchange in exchange for monthly payments.
There were two versions of the contract. Ver and CZ claimed that OKCoin forged the version with the added termination clause. Xu attributed the responsibility for this forgery to CZ.
In 2015, due to this conflict, Ver filed a lawsuit against OKCoin for $570,000. CZ publicly accused OKCoin of inflating trading volume with bots and manipulating proof of reserves audits.
In response, Xu argued that CZ lied about his qualifications. This dispute has been forgotten with time, but both sides held it in their hearts.
From old emotions to new revelations
CZ mentioned the Chinese cryptocurrency regulatory crackdown of 2020 again in "Freedom of Money."
He describes that OKCoin announced an indefinite suspension of withdrawals on October 16, 2020. Star Xu was under 'flexible detention' by the Chinese police at that time and was released about five weeks later.
Two days after Xu was released, on November 28, 2020, Huobi founder Lirin and other executives were detained during a public event.
Lirin endured about 90 days of flexible detention. Eventually, he left the industry and sold Huobi to Justin Sun's investment firm About Capital Management in October 2022.
This transaction is known to be worth around $1 billion and later became the spark for another conflict between Sun and Li.
Sun accused Li of hiding a $30 million shortfall during the due diligence process. In contrast, Li filed a lawsuit over trademark rights. Subsequently, Sun rebranded the exchange to HTX.
One of the most shocking claims in CZ's book is an event that is said to have occurred years later.
CZ recorded that during a dinner in 2025, Lirin said that Star Xu showed evidence of reporting him to the police, which led to Lirin's arrest according to CZ's claims.
"I met Lirin again at dinner after 11 years in 2025. Lirin said he saw a screen showing that Shiming Xing reported him directly to the Chinese police, and that report led to his arrest." – Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance
Star Xu's counterattack
Xu rebutted the allegations of being an informant as absurd and dismissed that CZ's nature does not change even after spending four months in prison. CZ admitted to money laundering violations in 2023, served time in a federal facility, paid a personal fine of $150 million, and Binance paid $4.3 billion.
"Even after spending four months in prison, he continues to make false statements to the world. All I can say is: the nature of a habitual liar never changes." – Star Xu, founder of OKX
Xu did not stop at denial. He recalled a YouTube video from December 2014 and QQ chat records, diverting the topic to an old OKCoin contract dispute.
According to his claims, this evidence confirms that CZ sent two versions of the contract to the OKCoin accountant. The 7th version arrived first, followed by the 8th revised version with a termination clause added a few hours later.
In addition to the contract dispute, the claims that Xu considers to be false are as follows.
Claims related to CZ's time at OKCoin
Dispute with Roger Ver
Whether CZ directly manipulated the market
CZ's marital status
Xu also suggested that CZ was a 'contaminated witness' who reported Justin Sun during a separate investigation.
CZ did not provide a direct response to Xu's writing.
The current state of Chinese cryptocurrency founders as shown by this dispute
These mutual slanders reveal that the personal competition among the founders of Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges still influences public discourse.
CZ, Star Xu, Lirin, and Justin Sun created the four most influential platforms in the industry. All survived the crackdown by Beijing authorities, founder detentions, and overseas relocations between 2017 and 2022.
Lirin quietly exited after selling Huobi.
Justin Sun has become a controversial manager of the successor exchange HTX and has been charged with securities fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
CZ has positioned himself as an ideological leader through educational initiatives after completing his sentence.
Xu is still leading OKX, which remains one of the top exchanges in the world by trading volume.
The main claims of this dispute have not been independently verified. The screenshots that CZ claims to have obtained from Lirin have also not been made public.
The contract evidence from 2014 continues to be controversial even ten years later.
The clear fact is that 'freedom of money' reopened old wounds that cryptocurrency figures in China tried to seal, opening a new page.