The New York Occasions obtained an almost 300-page draft of Changpeng Zhao’s unpublished memoir, detailing secret DOJ negotiations, jail life, and his rivalry with Sam Bankman-Fried.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 e book 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 Cash.” The manuscript particulars secret negotiations with the US Division of Justice, his four-month jail sentence, and rivalry with Sam Bankman-Fried.
In accordance with the NYT, prosecutors initially demanded $6.8 billion from Binance. The trade 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 attorneys intervened, however he spent his closing two weeks below 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, in line with the manuscript.
The e book additionally covers CZ’s interactions with former SEC Chair Gary Gensler. CZ wrote that he as soon as supplied Gensler an advisory position 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 had been 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 information 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 Promoting’
CZ responded on X inside hours of the NYT report. He framed the protection as an unpaid promotion for his e book.
“NYT is promoting my upcoming e book already, at no cost,” CZ wrote. He added that the Occasions obtained “a really early draft, with out permission.”
His lawyer, Teresa Goody Guillén, stated the NYT was “writing primarily based on materials that’s neither in CZ’s e book nor in his phrases.”
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 information to learn within the rest room. When a consumer quoted that line on X, CZ replied: “make sense, proper?”
CZ stated the English title stays topic to vary. The Chinese language version is tentatively titled 《币安人生》. He indicated publication could also be delayed, noting every spherical of modifying takes two to 3 weeks.
Highway 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 stated going via a standard writer would take too lengthy. All proceeds will go to charity.
In the course of the writing course of, CZ hinted that the e book would discover whether or not FTX was linked to the Terra/LUNA collapse in Might 2022. He in the end held again, writing that he “by no means noticed exhausting proof.”
On X, the dominant response framed NYT’s vital report as free e book advertising and marketing. A number of customers echoed CZ’s personal characterization.
Chinese language-speaking customers debated learn how to translate “Freedom of Cash” — whether or not it means monetary freedom or financial liberty. Some famous its resemblance to Li Xiaolai’s e book “The Highway to Monetary Freedom.” Li is a distinguished Chinese language crypto influencer and writer.
The memoir buzz additionally triggered a memecoin. A token known as “Freedom of Cash” surged to an $8.3 million market cap. On-chain analyst EyeOnChain flagged three wallets that had amassed tokens earlier than the NYT report. They turned a mixed $8,600 funding into $781,000 in unrealized features.
CZ had preemptively addressed this chance. In a January 8 publish in regards to the Chinese language title 《币安人生》, he explicitly said he holds no associated memecoins. “This isn’t associated to any meme tokens or listings,” he wrote on the time.
CZ’s memoir is predicted within the coming weeks.