A long-running feud between OKX founder Star Xu and Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao resurfaced on Thursday, with Xu calling CZ a “habitual liar” in a series of posts on X revisiting allegations dating back more than a decade.
The clash dates back to Zhao’s brief tenure at OKCoin, founded by Xu, when he was accused in 2015 of “harmful acts of conduct” and misleading statements related to a contract dispute involving Roger Ver, claims Zhao has previously disputed.
This latest outburst also follows a previous public disagreement in January, when Xu blamed market dynamics linked to Binance for amplifying the October 10 cryptocurrency crash, a claim that Binance and other market participants disputed. The latest outburst was sparked by CZ’s memoirs, published earlier this week, Xu said.
He revived issues from a decade ago and said he had “no intention of revisiting these old issues involving CZ.” [..] But since I have been dragged into this again because of the book, let’s rethink the facts,” he wrote.
“Out of nowhere, star [Xu] He said he had somehow forged a contract when he worked there. [at OKCoin]” CZ said in his book. “…In May 2015, I got upset and made a public post on Reddit, obviously denying that I forged any contracts…while I was at it, I detailed some problems I saw at OKCoin.”
Xu, in his recent posts, pointed to a video that he said shows evidence of conflicting contract versions and reiterated that Zhao had misled the public on the matter.
“After spending four months in prison, he continues to make false statements to the world,” Xu wrote, adding that “a habitual liar never changes his nature.”
The dispute escalated when Xu questioned whether Zhao had misrepresented his marital status, referencing previous CoinDesk reports in which Zhao’s wife was described as his “wife” in a letter sent to a judge. Xu said he would apologize if Zhao could produce a divorce agreement signed by both parties.
Zhao responded that he is “officially divorced” and challenged Xu to a bet of $1 billion, or whatever amount Xu chose, that the divorce was final, saying the lawyers could verify the agreement while refusing to release the documents.
Xu rejected the bet, citing compliance considerations related to running a regulated exchange, and instead pressed Zhao on whether his stake in Binance had been legally separated as part of any divorce.
Zhao dismissed the line of questioning, saying his involvement in Binance was “none of his business” and accused Xu of going off the rails.
