Changpeng Zhao News: The Binance Founder Just Released His Memoir — and It's a Political Grenade

Key Facts

• CZ's memoir "Freedom of Money: A Memoir of Protecting Users, Resilience, and the Founding of Binance" went on sale globally on April 8, 2026 on Amazon Kindle and paperback, with all author proceeds donated to charity (CZ press release, April 2026)
• In the book, CZ claims U.S. crypto exchanges "paid millions in lobbying fees" to block his presidential pardon — alleging competitors feared a pardon would allow Binance to re-enter the American market (The Block / FinanceFeeds, April 2026)
• President Trump pardoned CZ on October 23, 2025, following CZ's 2023 guilty plea to failing to implement adequate anti-money-laundering controls at Binance and his subsequent four-month federal prison sentence (Wikipedia / White House, 2025)
• Binance itself spent approximately $800,000 on lobbying for the pardon, including a $450,000 payment to a firm run by a "hunting buddy of Donald Trump Jr." (Politico, 2025–2026)
• The memoir received endorsements from BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio — two of the most prominent names in traditional finance (The Block / CryptoNexa, April 2026)
• Binance.US quietly resumed full fiat operations for qualified U.S. users in February 2026 and appointed Stephen Gregory as its new CEO, with the explicit goal of recapturing U.S. market share from Coinbase (CryptoNexa / CoinCentral, 2026)
• A separate civil lawsuit alleging Binance facilitated money transfers to terrorist groups was dismissed in March 2026 by a federal court, removing one of the last major U.S. legal risks hanging over the platform (Cryptonews.net, May 2026)

Breaking: Changpeng Zhao wrote most of his memoir on a prison computer in 15-minute increments, cut-and-paste disabled, waiting an hour between sessions to log back on. The result — released April 8, 2026 — is the most politically loaded document the crypto industry has produced this year.

"Freedom of Money" is nominally a founder's account of building the world's largest crypto exchange. In practice, it is CZ settling accounts: with prosecutors, with journalists at The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, with unnamed crypto competitors he accuses of funding lobbying campaigns against him, and with the version of himself that three years of hostile headlines created. The specific allegation — that U.S. exchanges paid millions in lobbying fees to block his Trump pardon — has not been proven. But it doesn't need to be proven to matter. It has already changed the conversation about how the U.S. crypto industry actually operates in Washington.

Signal 1 — The Pardon, the Lobbying, and What Both Sides Were Actually Fighting Over

To understand why CZ's lobbying allegation landed with force, you need to understand what was actually at stake in the pardon fight — on both sides.

CZ pleaded guilty in November 2023 to a single count of failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program at Binance, as part of a $4.3 billion settlement between Binance and U.S. regulators. He resigned as CEO, served four months at a federal correctional institution in California in 2024, and was released in September 2024. The plea agreement and the DOJ settlement did not prohibit Binance from operating globally — but they effectively closed the U.S. market to Binance as long as CZ remained a convicted felon with no path to rehabilitation.

A presidential pardon changes that calculus significantly. It doesn't erase the guilty plea or the $4.3 billion settlement, but it restores CZ's legal standing in U.S. jurisdictions and removes the primary compliance argument that kept Binance.US sidelined. From the perspective of U.S. exchanges that built market share during Binance's absence — Coinbase in particular, which had grown into the dominant U.S. institutional platform — a pardon was a threat. Binance historically competed on fee volume, liquidity depth, and global user base in ways that U.S. exchanges structurally could not match due to regulatory constraints. A Binance re-entry under a legitimized CZ is a different competitive dynamic than the one that existed when CZ was a convicted felon under DOJ supervision.

CZ's memoir makes the argument that competitors understood this — and acted on it. He writes that "a few friends" told him U.S. companies funded smear articles in major media outlets and retained lobbyists specifically to prevent the pardon from moving forward. He names Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal coverage as examples of narratives he believes were influenced by competitors, describing them as "false news." He does not name which exchanges he is accusing. He acknowledges on the Crypto Banter podcast that he has "no concrete evidence of any of it."

Binance's own lobbying record is documented and substantial. Binance spent approximately $800,000 on pardon-related lobbying, including a $450,000 single-month payment to a firm run by a close associate of Donald Trump Jr. Lobbyist Ches McDowell met directly with Trump to discuss CZ's case. Trump granted the pardon on October 23, 2025 — his spokesperson Karoline Leavitt characterizing it as correcting a "Biden administration war on cryptocurrency."

What This Means For You

• For active traders: the Binance.US re-entry underway since February 2026 is the market-relevant fact underneath the memoir's political drama. A fully operational Binance.US competing for U.S. retail and institutional volume is a structural change to the competitive landscape of the exchanges you use.
• For long-term holders: who trade on Coinbase, Kraken, or other U.S. platforms, the return of Binance's global liquidity depth and fee structure to the U.S. market creates competitive pressure that historically translates into lower fees and tighter spreads — good for users, harder for exchange margins.
• For newcomers: the clearest takeaway from the CZ lobbying allegation is that crypto industry competition in 2026 doesn't happen only through product features and trading volume. It happens in Washington, through lobbying firms, pardon petitions, and regulatory filings — the same way traditional finance has always worked.

Signal 2 — The Fink and Dalio Endorsements: What Wall Street Is Actually Signaling

The most revealing dimension of "Freedom of Money" is not the lobbying allegation. It is the endorsement page.

Larry Fink — CEO of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager with over $10 trillion under management — provided a testimonial for CZ's memoir. Ray Dalio — founder of Bridgewater Associates, one of the most respected macro investors in history — praised CZ for "his bold contributions to making alternative monies accessible to almost everyone in the world." These are not marginal figures in traditional finance providing cover for a crypto founder. They are two of the most institutionally significant names in global asset management, lending their reputations to a man who pleaded guilty to federal money laundering charges in 2023 and served time in federal prison in 2024.

That endorsement pattern is itself a signal — one worth reading carefully. In 2023, when CZ pleaded guilty, the Wall Street response was largely to maintain distance. The narrative at the time was that the crypto industry needed to separate itself from its most legally compromised figures if it wanted institutional adoption. Fink's BlackRock was simultaneously building its Bitcoin ETF, which required a certain distance from regulatory controversy. The fact that Fink is now endorsing CZ's memoir publicly — in April 2026, with the ETF running, with Bitcoin above $80,000, with institutional crypto fully mainstream — is a statement about how thoroughly the rehabilitation narrative has taken hold.

Dalio's framing is even more specific. Praising CZ for making "alternative monies accessible to almost everyone in the world" is endorsing the Binance thesis, not just the man — the idea that a global, high-liquidity exchange operating outside traditional banking constraints democratized access to financial systems in ways that have lasting value, regardless of the AML failures that produced the guilty plea. That's a reframe of the entire regulatory narrative that prosecuted Binance.

TheStreet's review of the book described the Fink endorsement as evidence that "certain Wall Street insiders are now open to interacting with people who were deemed untouchable just two years ago." CryptoNexa's analysis went further: "Cryptocurrency is evolving from a financial sector to a political one."

What This Means For You

• For active traders: the Fink-Dalio endorsement cluster is a social signal that institutional finance has moved past the compliance distance it maintained during the regulatory crackdown era. That has pricing implications: if BlackRock-tier institutional capital is now comfortable associating publicly with figures like CZ, the regulatory risk discount that the market has applied to Binance-adjacent assets for three years may be shrinking.
• For long-term holders: the broader rehabilitation of Binance's institutional standing — dismissed lawsuit in March 2026, resumed U.S. operations in February, new CEO with explicit market share mandate, endorsements from Fink and Dalio — is a multi-part story that is still unfolding. Each piece reduces the tail risk that hung over Binance and global crypto markets from 2023 onward.
• For newcomers: Fink and Dalio endorsing CZ's memoir is not a statement about CZ's personal virtue. It is a statement about where institutional finance has landed on the question of whether crypto is a legitimate asset class worth engaging with at the highest levels — and the answer is now clearly yes.

Signal 3 — Binance.US Returns, Compliance Questions Remain, and the Real Competition Begins

The memoir is the visible part of CZ's rehabilitation. The operational part is less visible but more consequential.

Binance.US — the U.S. entity that had been effectively sidelined since 2023, unable to process fiat deposits and withdrawals for most users — quietly resumed full operations for qualified U.S. users in February 2026. The new CEO, Stephen Gregory, was appointed with an explicit mandate to recapture U.S. market share from Coinbase. CZ himself told a podcast that he sees the current U.S. market as lacking liquidity depth — a clear signal that Binance intends to provide that depth.

The $4.3 billion settlement from 2023 resolved Binance's criminal liability with the DOJ and FinCEN. The civil lawsuit alleging Binance facilitated payments to terrorist groups was dismissed in March 2026, removing what had been the last significant pending U.S. legal risk. The pardon restores CZ's personal legal standing. Regulatory filings indicate Binance is pursuing licensing in multiple U.S. jurisdictions. The structural barriers to a full Binance re-entry are, one by one, being removed.

The compliance dimension is more complicated. Reports from late March 2026 indicate that Binance's Chief Compliance Officer Noah Perlman — a former federal prosecutor brought in specifically to strengthen oversight as part of the DOJ settlement's rehabilitation requirements — is in discussions about stepping down. Separately, allegations surfaced that compliance investigators were dismissed earlier in 2026 after identifying suspicious transaction patterns. Binance has not publicly addressed these developments. They create a tension that the memoir's pro-rehabilitation narrative cannot fully resolve: the legal barriers to Binance's U.S. return are shrinking, but the compliance culture questions that produced the original guilty plea have not been answered by a book endorsement from Larry Fink.

What This Means For You

• For active traders: on U.S. platforms, the Binance.US re-entry is happening in real time. Watch fee structures, liquidity depth, and trading volume data over the next two quarters as Binance.US tries to convert its global brand into domestic market share.
• For long-term holders: of BNB or Binance-adjacent assets, the compliance officer departure reports are the most important risk signal in the entire CZ story. A Binance that completes its U.S. re-entry with strengthened compliance architecture is a very different risk profile than one that re-enters with the same structural weaknesses that produced the 2023 plea.
• For newcomers: the honest read on CZ's situation in May 2026 is: the legal rehabilitation is largely complete, the business re-entry is underway, the compliance question is genuinely open, and the memoir is how CZ is managing the narrative bridge between them.

How Different Investors Are Reading This

The "Freedom of Money" release and Binance's U.S. re-entry are generating three distinct readings — each reflecting a different analytical priority.

Crypto-native observers who have tracked Binance since its 2017 founding are reading the memoir through the lens of competitive dynamics. CZ's unverified allegation that competitors spent millions to block his pardon is, in their read, less important as a factual claim than as a statement about what Binance's return to the U.S. market actually threatens. The logic is simple: if Coinbase or another U.S. exchange genuinely spent millions lobbying against a pardon, that reveals how seriously they take the competitive threat from a legitimized Binance. Whether CZ can prove it is secondary to what the allegation reveals about the stakes.

Traditional finance observers are focused entirely on the Fink-Dalio endorsement cluster. In institutional investment culture, reputation is transferred through association — when a figure of Fink's stature provides a public endorsement, it signals that the reputational risk of association has been assessed and accepted. The fact that BlackRock concluded that endorsing CZ's memoir carried acceptable reputational risk in April 2026 is a more meaningful signal about institutional crypto's regulatory normalization than any specific policy announcement.

Compliance and legal analysts are reading the compliance officer situation as the most important underreported story in the entire Binance re-entry narrative. The 2023 DOJ settlement required Binance to implement a compliance monitor and maintain enhanced AML controls for five years. A CCO departure and allegations of dismissed compliance investigators — if confirmed — would be potential violations of the settlement's terms, with significant legal implications for Binance's ability to maintain its DOJ agreement and pursue U.S. licensing. That risk is not reflected in any of the memoir's narrative.

For those tracking Binance's U.S. re-entry, CZ's rehabilitation timeline, and the broader competitive dynamics in the global exchange market — BYDFi's platform offers integrated market data and news alerts that support systematic monitoring of exchange competitive events as they develop.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile and unpredictable. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Always conduct your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

FAQ

Who is Changpeng Zhao and what did he do?

Changpeng Zhao, widely known as CZ, is the founder of Binance — the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, which he built from a small operation founded in 2017 into a platform with over 300 million users and a $100 billion valuation as of 2026. Born in rural China and raised in Canada, CZ worked in high-frequency trading systems before pivoting to crypto in 2013. In November 2023, he pleaded guilty to a single federal charge of failing to maintain effective anti-money laundering controls at Binance, as part of a $4.3 billion settlement between Binance and U.S. regulators including the DOJ and FinCEN. He resigned as CEO, served four months at a federal correctional facility in California, was released in September 2024, and was pardoned by President Trump on October 23, 2025. He remains Binance's largest shareholder but is no longer in an operational role at the company. His memoir "Freedom of Money" was released April 8, 2026.

What does CZ claim about crypto rivals lobbying against his pardon?

In "Freedom of Money," CZ writes that U.S. crypto exchanges spent millions of dollars in lobbying fees specifically to block his presidential pardon, motivated by fear that a pardon would allow Binance to re-enter the American market and compete directly with domestic platforms. He also alleges that some competitors funded negative media coverage in outlets including The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, describing these reports as "smear articles" shaped by competitive self-interest rather than journalism. In a subsequent Crypto Banter podcast appearance, CZ explicitly acknowledged that he has "no concrete evidence of any of it" — the claims rest on information relayed by unnamed friends rather than documented lobbying disclosures. The specific exchanges he accuses are not named in the memoir, though reporting from CoinSPress identified Coinbase as the most obvious implied competitor given its market position. No U.S. exchange has publicly responded to the allegations.

What is Binance's U.S. status in 2026?

Binance.US — the U.S.-facing entity created after Binance withdrew from serving American customers directly — quietly resumed full fiat deposit and withdrawal operations for qualified U.S. users in early 2026, following years of restrictions imposed in the aftermath of the 2023 DOJ settlement. In April 2026, Binance.US appointed Stephen Gregory, a former Currency.com executive, as its new CEO with an explicit mandate to recapture U.S. market share from Coinbase and other domestic platforms. A federal civil lawsuit alleging Binance facilitated money transfers to terrorist groups was dismissed in March 2026, removing the last major pending U.S. legal risk. CZ's Trump pardon in October 2025 restored his personal legal standing. Binance is also pursuing state licensing in multiple U.S. jurisdictions. The combination of operational restoration, dismissed litigation, and leadership renewal represents the most significant Binance U.S. re-entry push since the 2023 settlement.

Why did Larry Fink and Ray Dalio endorse CZ's memoir?

Neither Fink nor Dalio has explained their endorsements in detail. Fink's testimonial and Dalio's praise of CZ for making "alternative monies accessible to almost everyone in the world" represent a significant public association with a figure who pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2023. The most plausible read is that both figures assessed the reputational risk of association with CZ against the reputational benefit of being seen as forward-thinking participants in the institutional crypto mainstream, and concluded the calculation favored endorsement. BlackRock's $10 trillion in AUM includes a growing Bitcoin ETF business; Dalio has been publicly bullish on alternative stores of value. Both have financial incentives to normalize institutional engagement with crypto's most prominent builder, regardless of his legal history. TheStreet's review noted it signals that "certain Wall Street insiders are now open to interacting with people who were deemed untouchable just two years ago."

What compliance concerns remain at Binance in 2026?

Despite the legal rehabilitation narrative, several compliance-related concerns emerged around the time of the memoir's release. Reports from late March 2026 indicated that Binance's Chief Compliance Officer Noah Perlman — a former federal prosecutor hired specifically to strengthen AML oversight as part of the 2023 DOJ settlement's rehabilitation requirements — was in discussions about stepping down from the role. Separately, reports surfaced that compliance investigators at Binance were dismissed earlier in 2026 after identifying suspicious transaction patterns, though Binance has not confirmed or denied these reports publicly. The 2023 DOJ settlement requires Binance to maintain a compliance monitor and enhanced AML controls for five years — meaning any compliance infrastructure degradation during that period could have legal implications for the settlement's terms. These questions remain unresolved and are the most significant risk factor in Binance's U.S. re-entry story that the memoir's narrative does not address.