Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, has released a memoir titled Freedom of Money on April 8, reigniting a long-running dispute with OKX founder Star Xu. The book revisits a contract disagreement at OKCoin and alleges that rivals attempted to damage CZ’s reputation by spreading doubt about his abilities as chief technical officer. Xu responded swiftly, taking to X to label CZ a repeat offender when it comes to dishonesty and challenging several of the memoir’s claims.
Among the more pointed allegations in the book is CZ’s assertion that Huobi founder Leon Li told him in 2025 that he believed Xu had reported him to authorities years prior. Xu flatly denied this, calling the claim false and arguing that regulatory complaints against large exchanges are routine and do not determine enforcement outcomes. He also suggested that Li should not accept what he described as claims that defy common sense.
The memoir also revisits events from October 2020, when OKX, then operating as OKEx, suspended customer withdrawals for five weeks while Xu was reportedly under a form of detention in China. CZ’s account suggests that Xu alone controlled access to the exchange’s wallets, and contrasts this with Huobi’s decision to keep withdrawals running during Li’s own detention the following month, attributing the difference to a superior wallet structure at Huobi. Xu disputes this characterization and argues the memoir misrepresents key aspects of that period.
Xu also resurfaced a rebuttal published by OKCoin in 2015, along with a notarized video the exchange released at the time. The video, which remains publicly accessible, shows an OKCoin accountant’s QQ account being accessed before a notary and appears to show CZ sending two versions of a Bitcoin.com agreement on December 16, 2014. The disputed version, labeled v8, contained a six-month termination clause that became central to the contract controversy. CZ’s explanation at the time was that he rarely used QQ and that another employee may have accessed his account and altered the chat history, a defense Xu openly questioned.
OKCoin’s earlier Reddit statement, which Xu referenced again, accused CZ of forging Roger Ver‘s signature on the v8 contract, inflating his technical contributions to the company, operating his own trading bots, and conducting a public campaign of dishonest statements after his departure. Xu also accused CZ of lying about whether he personally engaged in market manipulation and whether he acted as an informant against Justin Sun. However, Xu has so far relied on previously released materials rather than presenting new evidence to support these claims.
CZ’s memoir frames the broader narrative around coordinated efforts by rival exchanges to slow Binance‘s growth, including alleged last-minute withdrawal of funding during Binance’s 2017 initial coin offering. The book portrays CZ as a target of deliberate campaigns involving fear, uncertainty, and doubt. This framing stands in direct contrast to the account Xu and OKCoin have consistently presented over the years.
As of the time of publication, CZ had not publicly addressed Xu’s latest round of challenges to the memoir. Cointelegraph contacted both parties for comment but had not received a response from either by the time the story was published.
Originally reported by CoinTelegraph.
