Binance founder Changpeng Chao (CZ) told OKX founder Star Xu, “I’m happy to bet $1 billion,” and “I’m officially divorced.”
It escalated quickly.
This week, the feud between Binance and OKX reached its core with one of the largest peer-to-peer bets ever offered publicly.
As if betting wasn’t ostensibly interesting enough, Xu’s response is that while gambling isn’t legal for residents of the United Arab Emirates, polygamy is.
For context, CZ worked at Xu’s cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin, But left in a contested situation Before creating Binance. Since then, the two exchanges have become fierce competitors, with regular public battles over listings and various market practices.
CZ left OKCoin in early 2015 after Xu attempted to renegotiate his stake. OKCoin’s 2015 Reddit statement accused CZ of not providing the code, running his own trading bots on the company’s systems, and launching a campaign of “lies and desperate nonsense” after leaving the company.
CZ’s memoir characterizes his departure more vaguely as a clash of visions.
What happened that escalated their disagreement to a billion dollars, anyway?
CZ’s memoir exposes years of dirty laundry
When CZ published a book freedom of money On April 8, Mr. Xu called him a “habitual liar.” Among the many accusations, Mr. Xu claimed that CZ lied about his marital status.
CZ doubles down and calls Xu’s bet, pushing in his $1 billion chip.
Xu also claimed that CZ published lies about his history at OKCoin, his contract dispute with Roger Ver, his alleged crypto market manipulation, and whether he was a government informant against Justin Sun.
Fed up, Mr. CZ asked Mr. Xu, “You can apologize now.” He offered “$1 billion (or whatever number you choose)” and gave Xu 24 hours to accept.
According to CZ’s characterization, a refusal would “clearly demonstrate who has misrepresented the public.”
Mr. Xu declined, citing professional obligations as well as the illegality of gambling in his country of residence.
“Publicly offering to bet $1 billion as the ultimate beneficiary of a regulated company is simply unprofessional conduct,” he said.
Yi He backs up CZ
Mr. Xu requested details about Mr. CZ’s biggest source of personal wealth. “Are your Binance shares legally separated from your ex-wife?”
Yi He, the mother of CZ’s children and apparently involved in the controversy, remained silent on social media. In 2014, after meeting CZ at a blockchain event, Yi helped CZ join OKCoin as chief technology officer.
Soon, they became romantically involved.
Yesterday, she promoted Binance’s on-chain prediction market, asking users to bet on whether Xu will publicly apologize to CZ.
She provoked Xu into fighting.
Let’s look at it based on probabilities:
“Will Star apologize to CZ?” https://t.co/mBdeGNCwaB— Yi He (@heyibinance) April 9, 2026
CZ claims Star Xu had Leon Li arrested
The most explosive new allegations in the memoir concern Huobi (now HTX) founder Leon Li.
CZ wrote in his book that Xu (using star star Xu’s real name Minxin) reported Li to Chinese police, which led to Li’s detention in November 2020.
Mr. Xu called the claim “completely false information.”
This discrepancy is another example of the CZ vs. Xu battle.
Details at issue in the OKCoin contract
This week, Mr. Xu resurfaced a 2015 video showing an OKCoin accountant’s QQ account allegedly accessed in the presence of a notary public.
Within its QQ account, a video appears to show CZ sending two versions of the Bitcoin.com domain agreement. This video first shows version 7, then a modified version 8 with a six-month termination clause that version 7 doesn’t have.
CZ previously believed the chat recordings were the result of an unauthorized account break-in.
“Do you believe that explanation?” Mr. Xu asked rhetorically.
Roger Ver has filed a lawsuit against OKCoin’s Hong Kong subsidiary for approximately $570,000 over a contract dispute.
In other words, CZ and Xu are essentially discussing their deal this week via a QQ video from 10 years ago.
CZ calls Huobi founder’s claims ‘habitual liar’ in new book
further feud
Mr. Schuh had spent months previewing his arguments in public before CZ’s book arrived.
After the 2025 flash crash, Xu blamed Binance for unpegging Etena’s USDE stablecoin.
“October 10th was caused by an irresponsible marketing campaign by certain companies,” Xu wrote. “There are no complications. There are no accidents.”
He also accused Binance of repeatedly launching what he called Ponzi-like schemes and using influencer campaigns to suppress dissent.
“I will try not to comment further on this topic,” CZ said, retweeting a rebuttal from allies.
In 2023, Mr. CZ pled guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, paid a $50 million criminal fine, and watched as the company he founded paid more than $4.3 billion in fines.
He was pardoned by President Donald Trump last year after serving a four-month prison sentence.
