NYT Exposes CZ’s Memoir — Crypto Twitter Made It Free Marketing
The New York Times obtained a virtually 300-page draft of Changpeng Zhao’s unpublished memoir, detailing secret DOJ negotiations, jail life, and his rivalry with Sam Bankman-Fried.
But what NYT framed as a essential exposé, CZ and the crypto neighborhood rapidly recast because the 12 months’s greatest free e book promotion.
Inside the Manuscript
The New York Times 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 Department of Justice, his four-month jail sentence, and rivalry with Sam Bankman-Fried.
According to the NYT, prosecutors initially demanded $6.8 billion from Binance. The alternate countered with $500 million. They finally settled on a $4.3 billion penalty. CZ pleaded responsible to a single rely 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 closing two weeks underneath police custody.
On the day of his launch in September 2024, CZ left detention and boarded a personal airplane. Only 26 minutes elapsed between leaving custody and takeoff, in keeping 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 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 throughout 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 categorized paperwork. CZ wrote that he would give a bonus to an worker who took recordsdata to learn within the lavatory.
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 e book.
“NYT is promoting my upcoming e book already, totally free,” CZ wrote. He added that the Times obtained “a really early draft, with out permission.”
His lawyer, Teresa Goody Guillén, stated the NYT was “writing based mostly on materials that’s neither in CZ’s e book nor in his phrases.”
The manuscript additionally incorporates a passage defending Trump over his categorized paperwork prosecution. CZ wrote that he would give a bonus to an worker who took the corporate recordsdata to learn within the lavatory. When a person quoted that line on X, CZ replied: “make sense, proper?”
CZ stated the English title stays topic to vary. The Chinese 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.
Road to Publication
The memoir has been in the works since at the least 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. He stated going by way of a standard writer would take too lengthy. All proceeds will go to charity.
During the writing course of, CZ hinted that the e book would discover whether or not FTX was linked to the Terra/LUNA collapse in May 2022. He finally held again, writing that he “by no means noticed arduous proof.”
Community Reacts
On X, the dominant response framed NYT’s essential report as free e book advertising and marketing. Multiple customers echoed CZ’s personal characterization.
Chinese-speaking customers debated how you can translate “Freedom of Money” — whether or not it means monetary freedom or financial liberty. Some famous its resemblance to Li Xiaolai’s book “The Road to Financial Freedom.” Li is a outstanding Chinese 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 collected 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 chance. In a January 8 publish concerning the Chinese title 《币安人生》, he explicitly said he holds no associated memecoins. “This just isn’t associated to any meme tokens or listings,” he wrote on the time.
CZ’s memoir is predicted within the coming weeks.
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