Why CZ chose Amazon over NFTs for his book

Changpeng Zhao (CZ) released his autobiography, and one thing stood out to parts of the crypto community; it wasn’t very “crypto.” It had no NFT tie-in, no token-gated access, and no on-chain experiment, but just Amazon.

This decision caught the attention of Colin Wu, and he questioned why one of crypto’s biggest figures would choose such a traditional route. He argued that the book could have supported crypto payments or included a soulbound NFT for buyers at the very least. Wu feels there could be something that would align more closely with Web3 principles.

CZ defends Amazon launch

Wu, in an X post, pointed to Vitalik Buterin’s 2022 book Proof of Stake. Its launch took a very different path. Its release allowed readers to donate Ether to receive a digital copy, paired with an NFT. However, the proceeds (including royalties) from the sales went toward Gitcoin Grants. This became an early example of how publishing could fit in with crypto-linked distribution.

In that context, CZ’s approach felt unusually conservative. Meanwhile, Zhao had dismissed the idea that there was anything deeper behind the choice.

“It’s not that complicated,” he wrote. “You don’t have to raise a cow just to drink milk.” He added that he has always bought books on Amazon. He implied that building a custom crypto-based distribution system just for one release didn’t make much sense. CZ mentioned that he hopes people outside the crypto industry could easily buy and read it. Looks like the goal was accessibility.

没那么复杂。喝牛奶不一定要养奶牛。我一直在亚马逊买书。电商不是我们的专长。为了一本书自己搞个买书的功能好像有点麻烦。另外希望非加密行业的也能容易买到。

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) April 8, 2026

In another post, Wu went in with the idea of a traditional launch as a crypto looped release could introduce many complications. He stated that CZ might want to use a more prudent, safer issuance method that avoids all sorts of tax issues.

CZ’s book exposes his legal fights

According to Wu, CZ’s book offers a more personal and at times blunt look at his journey. He described it as filled with strong opinions. It feels like Binance founder hates Zhou Wei (former CFO), Lao Xu, SBF, media, and lawyers. However, he praised He Yi and Heina while he barely mentioned Sun Ge at all.

The legal chapters turn out to be major points in the book. CZ said that when he was under investigation by the US government, he hired countless lawyers, which cost a fortune. Those lawyers started fighting among themselves. 

At one point, he said, one lawyer even told him that the more fines they paid, the better. This is how they ended up paying billions of dollars in fines. In the end, the judge pointed out that they have paid so many fines, which proves that crimes must be extremely serious. This left CZ absolutely floored.

CZ has described his time in custody in stark detail. Wu noted that Zhao explained that the prison was noisy from morning till night, which made it impossible for him to sleep at all. He went on to add that in the final 14 days, CZ was suddenly transferred to a detention center and thought he was going to be held indefinitely.

According to Wu’s retelling, the detention center had only 24-hour unflinching white incandescent lights. Zhao relied on silently calculating Bitcoin’s hash algorithm in his mind to stay sane.

Zhao stepped down as CEO of Binance after pleading guilty to US money laundering violations. The company agreed to a $4.3 billion settlement. However, he later received a pardon from Donald Trump. This move still remains debatable in the political view.

Since then, the global crypto industry has seen many ups and downs. The cumulative digital assets market cap hovers around $2.41 trillion. Bitcoin price jumped by more than 6% over the last 7 days. BTC is trading around $71,000 at the press time.