“I’m glad to guess $1 billion USD,” Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) informed OKX founder Star Xu, “that: I’m formally divorced.”
That escalated shortly.
With one of many largest peer-to-peer bets ever publicly provided, the Binance-OKX feud went nuclear this week.
As if the guess wasn’t fascinating sufficient on its face, in response to Xu’s responses, playing isn’t authorized for United Arab Emirates residents, but polygamy is.
For context, CZ labored at Xu’s crypto alternate, OKCoin, however left beneath contested circumstances earlier than creating Binance. The 2 exchanges have been fierce opponents ever since, with periodic public spats over listings and varied market practices.
CZ left OKCoin in early 2015 after Xu tried to renegotiate his fairness stake. OKCoin’s 2015 Reddit assertion accused CZ of contributing no code, operating his personal buying and selling bots on firm techniques, and mounting a marketing campaign of “lies and determined nonsense” after his departure.
CZ’s memoir characterizes his departure extra vaguely, as a conflict of imaginative and prescient.
Anyway, what occurred that escalated their disagreement to $1 billion?
CZ’s memoir airs years of soiled laundry
When CZ revealed his ebook Freedom of Cash on April 8, Xu known as him a “routine liar.” Amongst many accusations, Xu claimed CZ lied about his marital standing.
CZ doubled-down, calling Xu’s guess and pushing in $1 billion in chips.
Xu additionally claimed CZ revealed falsehoods about his profession at OKCoin, his contract dispute with Roger Ver, his alleged manipulation of crypto markets, and whether or not he was a authorities informant towards Justin Solar.
Fed up, CZ demanded of Xu, “You’ll be able to apologize now.” He provided “$1 billion USD (or any quantity you select),” giving Xu 24 hours to just accept.
A refusal, in response to CZ’s characterization, would “clearly present who has been mis-representing to the general public.”
Xu declined, citing not solely the illegality of playing in his nation of residence, but in addition his skilled obligations.
“As the last word useful proprietor of a regulated firm, publicly providing a $1 billion guess is hardly skilled conduct,” he mentioned.
Yi He backs up CZ
Xu demanded particulars in regards to the largest supply of CZ’s private wealth. “Has your Binance stake been legally separated along with your ex-wife or not?”
Yi He, the mom of CZ’s youngsters and clearly implicated within the debate, didn’t keep quiet on social media. In 2014, after assembly CZ at a blockchain occasion, Yi helped CZ be part of OKCoin as chief know-how officer.
Quickly, they had been romantically concerned.
Yesterday, she promoted a Binance on-chain prediction market asking customers to wager on whether or not Xu would publicly apologize to CZ.
She taunted Xu to interact.
Let’s examine, based mostly on the likelihood,：
“whether or not Star will apologize to CZ ？” https://t.co/mBdeGNCwaB— Yi He (@heyibinance) April 9, 2026
CZ claimed Star Xu obtained Leon Li arrested
The memoir’s most explosive new allegation considerations Huobi (now HTX) founder Leon Li.
In his ebook, CZ wrote that Xu (utilizing Star Xu’s actual title, Mingxing) reported Li to Chinese language police, resulting in Li’s November 2020 detention.
Xu known as that declare “purely false info.”
The disagreement is one more instance of the CZ versus Xu battle.
Contested particulars of an OKCoin settlement
This week, Xu resurfaced a 2015 video displaying an OKCoin accountant’s QQ account, allegedly accessed within the presence of a notary.
Inside that QQ account, a video exhibits CZ apparently sending two variations of a Bitcoin.com area settlement. The video exhibits Model 7 first, then a modified Model 8 with a six-month termination clause absent from Model 7.
CZ had beforehand attributed the chat data to an unauthorized account intrusion.
“Do you consider such a proof?” Xu requested rhetorically.
Roger Ver sued OKCoin’s Hong Kong entity for roughly $570,000 over the contract dispute.
In different phrases, CZ and Xu are basically arguing this week about that contract by way of a decade-old QQ video.
CZ known as ‘routine liar’ over Huobi founder claims in new ebook
Extra feuds
Xu had spent months previewing his arguments in public earlier than CZ’s ebook arrived.
Following the 2025 flash crash, Xu blamed Binance for the de-peg of Ethena’s USDE stablecoin.
“October 10 was brought on by irresponsible advertising and marketing campaigns by sure corporations,” Xu wrote. “No complexity. No accident.”
He additionally accused Binance of repeatedly launching what he known as Ponzi-like schemes and utilizing influencer campaigns to suppress dissent.
CZ mentioned he’d “strive to not touch upon this matter additional” and retweeted rebuttals from allies.
In 2023, CZ pleaded responsible to failing to keep up efficient anti-money laundering packages, paid a $50 million legal high-quality, and watched the corporate he based pay over $4.3 billion in penalties.
After serving a four-month jail sentence, he acquired a presidential pardon from Donald Trump final yr.
