The New York Occasions obtained a virtually 300-page draft of Changpeng Zhao’s unpublished memoir, detailing secret DOJ negotiations, jail life, and his rivalry with Sam Bankman-Fried.
However what NYT framed as a vital exposé, CZ and the crypto neighborhood rapidly recast because the 12 months’s finest free ebook promotion.
Contained in the Manuscript
The New York Occasions reported on Feb. 27 that it obtained a draft of CZ’s upcoming memoir, “Freedom of Money.” The manuscript particulars secret negotiations with the US Division of Justice, his four-month jail sentence, and rivalry with Sam Bankman-Fried.
Based on the NYT, prosecutors initially demanded $6.8 billion from Binance. The change countered with $500 million. They in the end settled on a $4.3 billion penalty. CZ pleaded responsible to a single depend of violating the anti-money-laundering regulation.
The memoir additionally describes CZ’s beforehand unreported run-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement after his launch. ICE positioned a detainer on him, claiming he had overstayed his visa, whereas incarcerated. His legal professionals intervened, however he spent his last two weeks beneath police custody.
On the day of his launch in September 2024, CZ left detention and boarded a personal aircraft. Solely 26 minutes elapsed between leaving custody and takeoff, based on the manuscript.
The ebook additionally covers CZ’s interactions with former SEC Chair Gary Gensler. CZ wrote that he as soon as provided Gensler an advisory function at Binance, which Gensler declined. They later met for sushi in Tokyo in 2019.
On FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, CZ recalled that SBF requested for billions through the 2022 disaster. CZ wrote that SBF made the request “as if he were asking for a bologna sandwich.”
President Trump pardoned CZ final fall. The memoir draft incorporates passages defending Trump’s dealing with of labeled paperwork. CZ wrote that he would give a bonus to an worker who took recordsdata to learn within the rest room.
Notably absent from the manuscript are particulars about CZ’s pardon marketing campaign and Binance’s enterprise ties with the Trump household’s crypto enterprise.
CZ Responds: ‘Free Advertising’
CZ responded on X inside hours of the NYT report. He framed the protection as an unpaid promotion for his ebook.
“NYT is advertising my upcoming book already, for free,” CZ wrote. He added that the Occasions obtained “a very early draft, without permission.”
His lawyer, Teresa Goody Guillén, mentioned the NYT was “writing based on material that is neither in CZ’s book nor in his words.”
The manuscript additionally incorporates a passage defending Trump over his labeled paperwork prosecution. CZ wrote that he would give a bonus to an worker who took the corporate recordsdata to learn within the rest room. When a person quoted that line on X, CZ replied: “make sense, right?”
CZ mentioned the English title stays topic to alter. The Chinese language version is tentatively titled 《币安人生》. He indicated publication could also be delayed, noting every spherical of enhancing takes two to a few weeks.
Street to Publication
The memoir has been within the works since no less than March 2025, when CZ revealed a 114,000-word draft. The manuscript has since been condensed to roughly 97,000 phrases throughout 300 pages.
CZ selected to self-publish concurrently in English and Chinese language. He mentioned going via a standard writer would take too lengthy. All proceeds will go to charity.
Through the writing course of, CZ hinted that the ebook would discover whether or not FTX was linked to the Terra/LUNA collapse in Could 2022. He in the end held again, writing that he “never saw hard evidence.”
On X, the dominant response framed NYT’s vital report as free ebook advertising and marketing. A number of customers echoed CZ’s personal characterization.
Chinese language-speaking customers debated how one can translate “Freedom of Money” — whether or not it means monetary freedom or financial liberty. Some famous its resemblance to Li Xiaolai’s ebook “The Road to Financial Freedom.” Li is a outstanding Chinese language crypto influencer and creator.
The memoir buzz additionally triggered a memecoin. A token known as “Freedom of Money” surged to an $8.3 million market cap. On-chain analyst EyeOnChain flagged three wallets that had accrued tokens earlier than the NYT report. They turned a mixed $8,600 funding into $781,000 in unrealized positive factors.
CZ had preemptively addressed this risk. In a January 8 submit concerning the Chinese language title 《币安人生》, he explicitly said he holds no associated memecoins. “This is not related to any meme tokens or listings,” he wrote on the time.
CZ’s memoir is predicted within the coming weeks.
