CZ’s memo is set for late February, promising full prison disclosures.
Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao announced that the long-awaited note will hit the shelves in late February or early March. He promised to reveal the details that he was unable to share at his recent event. Interview in Davos platform.
“Nothing to hide. More details in the upcoming book,” CZ wrote on January 25 on X, confirming the release window of four to six weeks.
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Self-published in two languages
The 300-page memo, which covers nearly 97,000 words, will be self-published simultaneously in English and Chinese. CZ explained that the decision to bypass traditional publishers was driven by time concerns.
“It takes a long time to spread the word, even though they help a lot with distribution,” he said.
All proceeds from the book will go to charity. “Not trying to make money off the book,” CZ added.
Chinese title Sparks Memecoin disclaimer
In a January 8 post, CZ revealed that it is considering naming the Chinese version “宿安人生” (roughly translating to “Binance Life” or “A Life with Binance”), while the English title remains undecided and may be completely different.
In particular, CZ addressed the issue, noting the tendency of the memecoin ecosystem to mimic trending phrases.
“Full disclosure, and not to ‘leak' this out publicly… This isn't related to any meme tokens or details. But I embrace the faking culture. I love that meme/word. It's a stickler for me,” he wrote.
He reserved the right to change the topic at the last minute and made it clear that he does not own any “宿安人生” memecoin and has no intention of doing so.
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From 114,000 words to the final edit
CZ's memo states that he wrote a draft of at least 114,000 words and has been in operation since at least March 2025. At the time, he explained that the project had taken “longer” than expected and required “another 3x effort” to rewrite it.
At the time, CZ hinted that the book would touch on controversial industry events. One topic is the possible connection between FTX and Terra/LUNA in May 2022.
“I was thinking about this when I wrote this part of the book… I didn't want to speculate; there were rumours, but I didn't see hard evidence,” he wrote in March 2025.
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The final version, after months of editing, appears to have been condensed into 97,000 words in 300 pages.
Jail details included.
Asked by followers if the memoir would include details about his time in prison, CZ confirmed, “Yeah, it's all there.”
Zhao in 2010 In late 2023, he pleaded guilty to violating US anti-money laundering laws and resigned as CEO of Binance. He was sentenced to four months at the Federal Correctional Institution Lompoc 1 and was released in September 2024. He received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump in October 2025.
Since his release, CZ has largely refrained from commenting on Binance's operations, instead focusing on charity work, educational initiatives and now, his memoir, which promises to provide a comprehensive account of his journey before, during and after building the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.
