Author: Zhao Changpeng, ChainCatcher

1. Grudges Unveiled: A Memoir That Sparked a “Bloodbath”

The incident originated from the official release of Binance founder and the richest person in the Chinese crypto circle, Zhao Changpeng's personal memoir "Life at Binance," which fully discloses his personal experiences and many industry insiders, including multiple references to OKX founder Xu Mingxing.

Years ago, Zhao Changpeng and another Binance co-founder, He Yi, served as Chief Technology Officer and Vice President respectively at OKCoin, which was founded by Xu Mingxing. In 2015, both left for various reasons and co-founded Binance in 2017, building it into the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.

Zhao Changpeng wrote in his book that months after leaving, Xu Mingxing accused him of "forging business contracts," which was baseless, damaging his personal reputation, calling it a "personal attack." Additionally, he disclosed that Li Lin once told him at a dinner that he had seen a screenshot showing Xu Mingxing reported him to Chinese police, which led to his being controlled by the police.

These materials described Xu Mingxing as a Machiavellian figure, initiating the first round of confrontations between the two sides.

Xu Mingxing, supported by colleagues who unearthed video recording evidence from that year, fiercely criticized Zhao Changpeng on platform X, stating, "After four months in prison, a person is still talking nonsense to the world. I can only say that a habitual liar can never change. These lies include the history of entering and leaving OKCoin, the Roger Ver contract dispute, whether he personally manipulated the market... his marital status, and so on."

Meanwhile, discussions about Zhao Changpeng's marital status became increasingly heated in the X community. Although Zhao Changpeng mentioned his parents, children, and other relatives multiple times in the book, as well as important work and life partners, he only briefly mentioned his current marital status and his current wife, simply stating that he had divorced.

However, it is well known that Zhao Changpeng and He Yi have been living as a couple for many years and have several children. Zhao Changpeng's ambiguous attitude about this quickly sparked the second round of attacks from Xu Mingxing.

"If the richest person can present a divorce agreement signed by both parties as of today, I will immediately apologize publicly. If such an agreement cannot be provided but claims of divorce are made in the media and the book, that is openly lying to the public," Xu Mingxing stated.

In response, Zhao Changpeng stated he could wager $1 billion, betting that he had indeed divorced before that day. Xu Mingxing did not accept the bet, stating that such a public wager was unprofessional and shifted the issue to another dimension: "Has your Binance share been legally separated from your ex-wife? Proving this is enough."

At this point, He Yi also joined the debate, urging Xu Mingxing to "either act like a man and apologize or let lawyers intervene for notarization, or admit to being a liar?"

2. Various Individuals Competing to Voice Opinions and Take Sides

The squabbling among top figures has also sparked many industry insiders to take sides and discuss, adding heat to the event from different angles.

ArkStream Capital founding partner said that CZ's book is worth reading, but CZ's character and vision are significantly different from top entrepreneurs. Whether it's insider trading condoned by Binance, relationships influencing asset listings, or avoiding discussion of major mistakes post-1011, or being stabbed by early Binance investors, and transforming partners into enemies, there are many embellishments in the book, but industry practitioners are well aware. Character and vision determine the ceiling. If a leader in the industry were to change, I believe the crypto market cap would far exceed $3 trillion.

Well-known KOL FTWBITCOIN911 said, "CZ talking about things said during private dinners with Mr. Li, without the face-off between Mr. Li and Mr. Xu, he disclosed them directly. It shows a lack of understanding of the human dynamics in China. When someone gives you private talks, writing them directly without the permission of Mr. Li makes you passive. Additionally, regarding the report, you have no real evidence; writing about this matter itself exhibits childish behavior. CZ is not stupid; he is indeed evil!"

On the other hand, several industry figures expressed that Xu Mingxing's denunciation strategy is inappropriate, reflecting his identity anxiety and imbalance.

For example, Zhu Su, a former co-founder of Three Arrows Capital, believes that Xu Mingxing's current stance is somewhat autistic. "In my view, he seems to have not truly accepted the fact that his former employees left in a relatively short time to establish a much larger exchange and that CZ's geographical strategy outperformed his Chinese peers. His tone still resembles that of an older man scolding a younger man," Zhu Su said.

Furthermore, many voices point to Xu Mingxing's private life; for example, well-known X blogger "Crypto Circle Encyclopedia" disclosed unethical behaviors such as Xu Mingxing maintaining a mistress and deliberately deleting announcements compensating users, dragging both parties into an awkward and difficult-to-validate "quagmire."

3. The Missing Dignity and Perspective

Regarding the details of each event, Zhao Changpeng and Xu Mingxing each hold their ground, arguing from 2018 to 2026. For the question of who is right and who is wrong, the cryptocurrency community has long felt aesthetic fatigue from the lengthy mudslinging—everyone is unable to distinguish and gradually loses interest in differentiation.

Private life is supposed to be a dark place and should not be a bargaining chip in business games. However, in 2026, we still see billion-dollar magnates "running naked" in public spaces, indicating that the Chinese crypto circle has yet to complete its transition from "grassroots heroes" to "industry leaders," lacking in dignity and vision.

Conflicts between Internet industry moguls have also occurred, with entrepreneurs like Jack Ma, Pony Ma, Robin Li, and Liu Qiangdong having engaged in varying degrees of clashes and frequent mudslinging, but more often focused on personal working styles and business development strategies.

In contrast, this incident involving a $1 billion wager, attacks on private life, and dredging up old accounts seems more like an emotional outburst than a constructive dialogue. Extending the timeline, the voices of these crypto industry moguls mainly focus on endorsing their own businesses, with little discussion of industry-level strategy or unique perspectives.

During the transformation period of the crypto industry from wild growth to regulatory compliance and institutional entry, this shortcoming in perspective is particularly glaring. The era of "traffic equals justice" has passed, and user trust, capital confidence, and global reputation have become the industry's most scarce assets. If the two most influential entrepreneurs in the Chinese cryptocurrency circle could transform each other's "Life at Binance" and "Life at OK" into a common pursuit of product excellence, user responsibility, and industry leadership, they might be truly worthy of the titles of "richest" and "leader."

What is true entrepreneurial spirit? What does the responsibility of being an industry leader mean? In the crypto industry, these questions remain largely ambiguous.

This ongoing feud essentially has no winners. It consumes the personal image of two top billionaires, dilutes the brand assets of the platforms, and erodes the hard-earned trust base of the entire industry. It serves as a mirror, reflecting the deep-rooted grassroots coloring of the Chinese crypto circle as it strives for the peak of commercial civilization.

To some extent, this is not a contest of winning or losing, but rather a magnifying glass—magnifying the unresolved structural contradictions still present in the Chinese crypto circle as it matures: when wealth has reached a trillion-dollar scale, but the means of expression remain rooted in the grassroots era, what is lost is not only dignity but also the ticket to entry into true commercial civilization.

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