CZ's New Book Reveals the Top Ten Secrets: Advance Knowledge of "94", the Inside Story of Huobi's Change of Ownership Made Public for the First Time

Original ｜Odaily Planet Daily Golem

On April 8, Binance founder CZ (Zhao Changpeng) officially launched his new book "Freedom of Money" (Chinese title: 币安人生), which is currently available for users to purchase the e-book on Amazon, Chinese users can also buy it for 1.99 yuan on Xianyu.

"Freedom of Money" is a memoir written from CZ's first-person perspective, reflecting on his journey from a rural area in Jiangsu, moving to Canada, working in technology and finance in Tokyo, New York, and Shanghai, to his first encounter with Bitcoin in 2013, selling his house to invest in the crypto industry, and ultimately founding Binance in 2017. The latter half of the book focuses on crisis management after Binance's growth, the FTX incident, global regulatory conflicts, and his experience of pleading guilty in the U.S. in 2023, serving his sentence, and being pardoned after his release.

The entire book is about 180,000 words long, which is considered medium-sized among memoirs of celebrities/entrepreneurs, but it still takes about 6-9 hours to read completely. To help readers quickly understand the core highlights of CZ's new book and his previously undisclosed personal experiences, Odaily Planet Daily has summarized and distilled the content of "Freedom of Money." If you still feel unsatisfied after reading this article, readers are encouraged to purchase the book for a complete read.

1. Almost became CEO of Mt.Gox China, lost 100 BTC when the platform collapsed

In early 2014, CZ was recommended to become the CEO of Mt.Gox China, and the final proposal was for Susquehanna to provide funding, Mt.Gox to provide technology, while he would be responsible for the Chinese business and receive a 10% equity stake. However, just before signing the contract, Mt.Gox collapsed on February 7, 2014, suspending user withdrawals, so CZ decided not to join.

But CZ was not unscathed; after Mt.Gox's collapse, he lost 100 Bitcoins (worth $50,000 at the time, now worth about $7 million) that he had on Mt.Gox, but he did not attempt to recover them.

2. Completed the white paper in three days, raised $15 million in Binance ICO

In 2017, Binance's white paper was completed in three days, a process that included CZ learning about the concept of ICO to the final release of the Chinese and English versions. On June 14, 2017, CZ attended a hot pot gathering organized by Guo Hongcai (known in the crypto circle as Bao Er Ye) in Chongqing, and after the meal, he decided to do an ICO and raised $15 million with Yang Linke at that time. Thus, BNB was born.

Bao Er Ye also proactively became the initial advisor during Binance's ICO and requested some BNB token allocation. Binance conducted a total of 5 rounds of ICO, all of which sold out within seconds. By the end of the last round of ICO on July 2, 2017, CZ successfully raised $15 million worth of digital assets. CZ wrote in his memoir that everyone was stationed in the office, but the celebration was just ordering slightly fancier takeout, with about twenty people taking turns to serve food and eat at their desks.

At that time, CZ also distributed BNB equivalent to one month's salary to all employees at the ICO price of $0.1, and he allocated himself 50,000 BNB, which he never touched, and by the time of writing the book, it was already worth over $24 million.

3. How the name "Binance" came about, joined the company a day before its launch

On June 17, 2017, CZ invited He Yi to the Binance Shanghai office to help revise the white paper * (Note: At this time, He Yi was still the CMO at Yixia Technology) *. CZ mentioned in his memoir that when He Yi walked into the office, she pointed at the white paper on the desk and said, "Your current Chinese name sounds like a supermarket." She then suggested changing it to "Binance," and CZ immediately approved the name change without consulting a feng shui master or holding repeated meetings.

However, CZ referred to this as a "little trick" to entice He Yi to join Binance; he believed that the ultimate way to attract top talent was to get them involved first. Ultimately, on the last night before Binance's launch on July 13, 2017, CZ called He Yi again, and she verbally agreed to join Binance, submitting her resignation to her previous company the next day.

4. Received news before the "September 4 Ban" and fled early, removed SIM card to avoid tracking

On September 4, 2017, seven ministries in China jointly issued a notice clearly prohibiting the operation of cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency mining, and ICOs. The night before, CZ mentioned in his memoir that he had a message on his phone saying there would be a "major rectification" the next day. At 12:30 AM that day, CZ held an emergency conference call with He Yi and other executives, ultimately deciding that he, He Yi, and Heina would go to Tokyo, while the others would temporarily stay in Shanghai.

To prevent being tracked, He Yi reminded CZ to take out his phone's SIM card and turn it off during the journey, and CZ complied. However, He Yi later informed CZ that this idea came from a spy movie she had watched, and she wasn't sure if they would actually be tracked.

5. Had a bad first impression of SBF, refused to lend a hand after FTX collapsed

The collapse of FTX in 2022 was a major event in the crypto industry, and CZ detailed his "grievances" with SBF and his true thoughts during the FTX collapse in "Freedom of Money."

At the Binance Blockchain Week in January 2019, CZ met SBF for the first time. At that time, SBF was still the CEO of Alameda, and CZ described SBF in the book as looking quite smart and emotionally intelligent—"saying the right thing to whoever he met."

A few months later, just a month after FTX launched, SBF approached CZ for investment. Although Binance's CFO was optimistic about FTX, CZ and He Yi still declined the investment. In November 2019, FTX lowered its valuation for Binance and proposed exchanging BNB for FTT, which CZ agreed to. He wrote in his memoir, "From a business perspective, the terms were good." Ultimately, Binance held a 20% stake in FTX.

CZ stated in his memoir that after the investment was completed, SBF changed his demeanor, poaching Binance's VIP account managers and several employees who were "money-oriented," and spoke ill of Binance in Washington. So although Binance was still a shareholder of FTX, CZ's relationship with SBF had reached a freezing point.

So when FTX collapsed in 2022, SBF's first message seeking help from CZ was, "Has our relationship deteriorated to the point where we don't even talk?" After some communication, SBF mentioned needing billions in investment.

CZ candidly stated in his memoir, "I didn't want FTX, nor did I want to help SBF. But to protect users and the industry, I had to intervene." The subsequent story is well-known; Binance signed a non-binding letter of intent (LOI) with FTX, and on November 8, SBF announced on Twitter that Binance was interested in acquiring FTX, but on November 9, Binance decided to withdraw from the deal.

6. Refused a $20 million listing fee, personally set the listing rules

The strict listing management regulations at Binance today were already taking shape during CZ's time. CZ recalled that when Binance entered the top ten global exchanges, a project party directly offered him a personal "listing fee" of $20 million, but CZ refused on the spot and blacklisted them.

Because of this incident, CZ realized the need to establish a standardized and transparent listing mechanism. He personally drafted the "Binance Listing Guidelines," clearly stating that all applications must be submitted through the official website form, and the listing team must be "physically isolated" from the project parties. CZ also mentioned in his memoir that he often saw listing managers from other exchanges busy handing out business cards and building relationships at various meetings, and he never agreed with this practice.

7. Invested in Twitter and became a small shareholder of SpaceX, praised Musk for accurately judging SBF

In 2022, CZ's investment of $500 million to support Musk's acquisition of Twitter was widely circulated in the crypto circle. Regarding this matter, CZ wrote in his memoir that his reason for participating in the investment was that Binance aimed to promote financial freedom, which must include supporting freedom of speech.

CZ stated that the investment process was quite tortuous, but fortunately, it was completed in the end; he only attended a few meetings for the $500 million investment. CZ wrote in the book that he is still a small shareholder of Twitter (now called X), and since X later merged with xAI, he also became a small shareholder of xAI. As xAI merged with SpaceX, he ultimately became a small shareholder of SpaceX.

At the same time, CZ did not forget to take a jab at SBF. He later learned that SBF also wanted to invest in Twitter but was rejected by Musk, praising Musk for his keen judgment of people.

8. Suffered from back pain since childhood

CZ mentioned in his memoir that he had been plagued by back pain since his teenage years, possibly inherited from his father or due to prolonged sitting; he first "threw out his back" at the age of 17. By 2019, the pain intensified, causing CZ to spend most of that year working from bed: with his laptop on a stand and an iPad and iPhone beside him.

In 2020, to address his back pain, CZ went to Berlin for surgery, but the surgery was unsuccessful, and his herniated disc recurred.

9. Wrote the book in prison, taught inmates about cryptocurrency

On April 30, 2024, CZ was sentenced to prison by the U.S. government, and by May 31, he was sent to a low-security federal prison in Lompoc, California, to serve a four-month sentence. CZ wrote in his memoir that the first draft of this book was written in prison. The computers in the prison were basically like electronic typewriters, unable to copy and paste or connect to the internet; to revise paragraphs, he had to retype everything, so most of the book's content was written from memory.

During the later stages of his sentence, CZ was transferred to a halfway house, where he was approved to volunteer, and one of the volunteer tasks was to help create cryptocurrency educational materials for inmates, which CZ stated he mostly copied and pasted from Binance Academy.

10. Vitalik taught my son about "infinity," and I missed a great opportunity to invest in Ethereum

Familiarity with big names, once also bewildered.

CZ mentioned in his memoir, "I first met Vitalik Buterin in December 2013 at the Bitcoin Summit in Las Vegas. He was only 19 years old, working at Bitcoin Magazine, yet he was already discussing the Ethereum concept he was working on. In May 2014, we reunited at an industry summit in Beijing.

In May 2015, when Vitalik was in Tokyo, he stayed at my home, sleeping in a bunk bed with my eight-year-old son, and taught my son what 'infinity' is.

At that time, I asked him, 'Isn't it too ambitious to create a Turing-complete language on the blockchain? Can it really be done?' Vitalik replied, 'Yes.' Now we know he indeed accomplished it. It was my lack of imagination.

I met Vitalik in 2013 and have been following Ethereum, but I never invested. I really missed a great opportunity! However, on the flip side, if I had invested in ETH and received hundreds of times the return, perhaps Binance today wouldn't exist. Fate has its own arrangements for everyone."