Changpeng Zhao (CZ) released his autobiography, and one thing stood out to some in the crypto community. It wasn’t very “cipher”. There was nothing $NFT No partnerships, Tokengate access, on-chain experiments, just Amazon.
This decision caught the attention of Colin Wu, who questioned why one of the biggest names in the crypto industry would choose such a traditional route. He claimed that the book may have supported cryptocurrency payments or contained soul-binding content. $NFT At least for buyers. Wu feels there may be something that more closely aligns with Web3 principles.
CZ defends Amazon launch
Wu pointed to Vitalik Buterin’s 2022 book “Proof of Stake” in the X-Post. Its launch followed a completely different path. With this release, readers can donate Ether and receive a digital copy. $NFT. However, the proceeds from the sale (including royalties) were donated to Gitcoin Grants. This became an early example of how publishing could adapt to cryptocurrency-linked distribution.
In that context, CZ’s approach felt unusually conservative. Mr. Zhao, on the other hand, rejected the idea that there was any deep reason behind this choice.
“It’s not that complicated,” he wrote. “You don’t have to raise cows just to drink milk,” he said, adding that he always buys books on Amazon. He hinted that it doesn’t make much sense to build a custom crypto-based distribution system just for a single release. CZ said he hopes people outside the cryptocurrency industry can easily purchase and read it. It seems like the goal was accessibility.
It’s not that complicated. You don’t need to raise cows to drink milk. I always buy books on Amazon. E-commerce is not our specialty. It seems a bit troublesome to create a book purchase function for a book. We also hope that people outside the crypto industry will feel free to purchase it.
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) April 8, 2026
In another post, Wu said that loop releases of cryptocurrencies can cause a lot of complications, so he went with the idea of a traditional release. He said CZ may want to adopt a more prudent and secure method of issuance that avoids any kind of tax issues.
CZ’s book exposes his legal battles
Wu said CZ’s book offers a more personal and sometimes candid view of his journey. He described it as full of strong opinions. I feel like Binance’s founder hates Zhou Wei (former CFO), Lao Xu, SBF, media, and lawyers. However, he praised He Yi and Heina and barely mentioned Sun Ge.
The legal chapter is the main focus of this book. CZ said that while he was being investigated by the U.S. government, he hired countless lawyers and spent a lot of money. Those lawyers started fighting among themselves.
At one point, one lawyer even said the more fines he paid, the better. They ended up paying billions of dollars in fines. In the end, the judge pointed out that they paid a large fine, which proves that the crime was extremely serious. This completely floored CZ.
CZ detailed his time in detention. Mr. Wu pointed out that Mr. Zhao explained that the prison was so noisy from morning to night that he could not sleep at all. He added that in the last 14 days, CZ thought he would be suddenly transferred to a detention center and held indefinitely.
According to Mr. Wu’s retelling, the detention center had only white incandescent lights that were lit 24 hours a day. To maintain his sanity, Chao relied on silently calculating Bitcoin’s hashing algorithm in his head.
Mr. Zhao pleaded guilty to US money laundering charges and resigned as CEO of Binance. The company agreed to a $4.3 billion settlement. However, he was later pardoned by President Donald Trump. The move remains controversial in political opinion.
Since then, the global cryptocurrency industry has experienced many ups and downs. The cumulative market capitalization of digital assets has reached approximately $2.41 trillion. Bitcoin price has increased over 6% in the past seven days. At the time of writing, BTC is trading at around $71,000.
