CZ called ‘habitual liar’ over Huobi founder claims in new book
Former Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao’s new book has apparently not gone down too well with OKX CEO Xu Mingxing after it claimed he was responsible for the arrest of Houbi’s founder Li Lin in 2025.
Freedom of Money, which launched today in various countries, recounts Zhao’s life growing up in China, his Binance journey, and his experiences with Terra and FTX.
In one section, he detailed how he attended a banquet with Li in 2025 after 11 years apart.
“Li Lin told me he’d seen a screenshot showing Xu Mingxing personally reporting him to Chinese police; it was that report that led to his arrest,” wrote Zhao.
The book notes that Li was arrested on November 28, 2020. However, details were kept under wraps at the time, and even reports from months later were uncertain.
Xu has claimed, however, that the book’s characterization of events is “purely false information.”
Read more: Changpeng Zhao has ‘nothing else to do’ during jail time so may write a book
He said that in the Asian Crypto industry, any founder or platform will process large amounts of reports, and that “this industry would have ceased to exist long ago” if reports influenced every “outcome.”
“Huobi’s Mr. Li has very high emotional intelligence and has managed all sorts of people around him well over the years; he shouldn’t believe this kind of nonsense that defies common sense,” Xu said.
Xu went on to claim that Zhao’s book makes further falsehoods including, “the history of joining and leaving OKCoin, the contract dispute with Roger Ver, whether [Zhao] personally manipulated the market, whether [Zhao] acted as a tainted witness to report Justin Sun during the investigation, [Zhao’s] own marital status, and so on.”
The exec expanded on the contract dispute while Zhao was at OKCoin (OKX’s former name), and how the Binance founder allegedly forged documents related to a Bitcoin.com agreement with Roger Ver.
CZ claimed these accusations put immense pressure on his professional reputation and denied the allegations in his book.
OKX CEO referenced Binance’s compliance firings
Xu’s post bringing up these allegations was made alongside an article from Bloomberg, which reports that Binance’s Chief Compliance Officer, Noah Perlman, is planning to quit within the next two years.
Read more: Justin Sun keeps fighting with Huobi founder Li Lin
The article also details further Binance compliance staff departures. This, alongside reports that Binance fired compliance staff looking into Iranian-linked transactions, has raised doubts about the company’s commitment to its 2023 plea deal.
Regardless, Xu has used the Bloomberg piece to emphasize his distrust for Zhao.
“After spending four months in prison, he continues to make false statements to the world. All I can say is: a habitual liar never changes their nature,” Xu said.
Zhao, on the other hand, has been busy promoting his book online and hasn’t addressed Xu’s comments. It hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing though, as his personal number appeared identifiable within the text.
Zhao distanced himself from the number and claimed that he hadn’t used it for years, adding that it has a new owner who’s probably “a hacker or the hat uncle.” He warned readers not to add the number to their contacts.
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