CZ's Autobiography Details Binance's Rise and FTX's Fall

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has published his autobiography, 'Freedom of Money', which recounts the exchange's rise to success and its role in the collapse of FTX.

CZ reveals that in November 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried called him asking for a couple of billion dollars before Binance's attempt to acquire FTX. CZ had not intended to do a deal and only considered it to protect users and the industry.

CZ blames the trigger for FTX's demise on a public statement by Caroline Ellison, which he calls a fatal mistake that prompted professional traders to short below a support level. The token fell from $22 to $5 within 72 hours, causing a run on the exchange with $6bn withdrawn.

CZ also describes an Exchange Collaboration group chat on Signal created by FTX employee Zane Tackett during the Terra/LUNA crash, which included CZ, Bankman-Fried, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, and Kraken's Jesse Powell. The SEC later drew interest from this chat, but CZ denies any wrongdoing.

CZ recounts his run-in with Gary Gensler, then a former CFTC official who declined an advisory role at Binance in 2019. He notes that Gensler was already planning to lead the SEC and had previously cracked down on cryptocurrencies.