CZ新訪談：仍把80%精力留給區塊鏈，1000萬美元就能財務自由

Arranged & Translated by: Odaily TechFlow

Guest: CZ, Founder of Binance

Host: Ran Neuner, CNBC Crypto Trader

Podcast Source: Crypto Banter & Crypto Insider

Original Title: CZ Life Before and After Prison, Crypto’s Future & The Freedom Of Money

Airing Date: May 9, 2026

Key Takeaways

In this exclusive interview, Ran Neuner engages in an in-depth conversation with Binance founder CZ, covering his new book "Freedom of Money," his prison experience, the pardon process, family relationships, and the future of the crypto industry. CZ recounts the process of writing a book in a US prison, dealing with uncertainty, and rebuilding life priorities. He also explains why he still dedicates 80% to 90% of his time and energy to blockchain. In his view, the era of AI Agents will create a financial transaction network far larger than today's, and blockchain is highly likely to become the irreplaceable settlement rail for it. Towards the end of the interview, CZ also shares his understanding of wealth, children, investment, health, and legacy: money is not the endgame; what truly matters is using one's capabilities and resources to improve the world.

Highlights of Key Insights

On the 76-Day Prison Experience and Mental Reset

• "I started writing in prison. I had a lot of time but not much access to the outside world. No internet, just a very basic terminal for 15 minutes at a time, after which you'd be kicked offline. The terminal couldn't copy-paste, so I had to type everything myself."
• "Newspapers wrote I was the richest person to enter a US prison for a single Bank Secrecy Act violation. Before going in, my lawyer told me, 'You're a prime target for extortion.'"
• "No one in US history has been imprisoned for a single Bank Secrecy Act violation, not even today. I'm the only one, the first and the only. So I'm special, and they treated me specially. I didn't know what other 'special treatment' might come."
• "After getting out, I wrote in the book that I don't really care about my reputation, not even much about my legacy. I don't care how others see me. What I care about is how I see myself when I grow old."
• "Very clearly, it's people. I miss my family, my children, my loved ones, and my friends. When everything is taken away, you figure out what you miss the most."

On Pardon, Citizenship, and US Crypto Regulatory Competition

• "To get the pardon, there was absolutely no transaction. My lawyer was very clear: you don't want to get into more trouble trying to get a pardon."
• "We did face very strong lobbying, counter-lobbying. Some of our perceived competitors in the US didn't want me to get the pardon. Other US crypto exchanges didn't want me to get it because they were worried about Binance returning to the US. This is business competition."
• "Unrelated to the negotiations, I was invited to become a citizen of the UAE. … But I didn't use the UAE citizenship as a tool to 'just hide here'. Getting it actually motivated me more to go to the US and solve the problem, rather than rely on it."
• "When you were convicted, part of it was you couldn't operate Binance. After the pardon, for me personally, it's gone, so I have no restrictions. But for the company, there might or might not be some restrictions."

Business Reflection: CZ's Biggest Past Business Mistakes

• "If I could go back now, I would have made two platforms from the very beginning: one Binance US, one Binance Global, and blocked US users from day one. It would have saved a lot of trouble."
• "US users never exceeded 30% of our user base at any time, maybe 10%, 20%, 30% at different stages. … We were profitable within 3 months, with high margins. So even with 30% less, we probably would have survived."
• "But what I learned later is that the US looks back many years. They look at what you did in the past."
• "I'm much more cautious in business, but I won't run all my tweets by a lawyer. … In business, I will involve more lawyers now. This is what I learned. Law is my weak spot; I don't have a legal background."

Crypto x AI: Why the Crypto Rail is Massively Undervalued

• "Blockchain is about money, the technology of money. We will always need money, and we will need more, more efficient, and freer money."
• "I still put 80% to 90% of my time, money, and energy into blockchain. AI and biotech are great, but they are not my expertise."
• "From what I see today, Bitcoin still holds a dominant position and has the endurance to continue its dominance. Nothing can replace Bitcoin currently."
• "It's not just AI trading with AI; it's one AI representing a person trading with another AI representing another person on the other side of the world. I don't see an alternative; this money must be Crypto."
• "It will definitely far exceed 2 trillion dollars, and far exceed our current monetary system. The future monetary system will be much larger than today's."

Wealth, Trust Arrangements, and the Concrete Number for 'Financial Freedom'

• "I won't give my children a lot of money. For the grown-up ones, I told them, if you want a comfortable life, I can support you. But if you want luxury, like sports cars, private jets, yachts, big houses, you have to earn it yourself."
• "I won't leave them billions of dollars. I might leave them assets in the tens of millions, arranged through a trust. They'd get a certain amount each year when young, less when younger, more when older."
• "I want to use most of my money while I'm still alive. I don't really believe in donating to charity at the end of your life. I think that's a terrible way to use money because you can't truly control it then."
• "For almost everyone on earth, 90 million dollars is enough. … But I think for a normal life, 10 million is enough for financial freedom. When I say 100 million, I mean that beyond that number, there's really no difference. If you have 100 million and claim you're unhappy, thinking 200 million will make you happier, that's crazy."
• "Above 50 million, the difference is zero. If you obsess over money making you happy, you will be unhappy."
• "When I'm old and sick in bed, I hope to look back and say: I did my best to contribute to the world I was born into. I want to leave it a little better than I found it."

YZi Labs' Screening Logic and Elon Musk's 'Alien Theory'

• "I don't look for shiny things, or fancy 'great brands' or 'genius new ideas'. I look at very basic things."
• "I look for people who truly believe in their mission, who would do it even without money. If you just want to make money, I think you'll stop at a point of relative success, but you won't become a historically great company. So it's two things: capability and mission."
• "I think Elon doesn't care about money. My theory is that he's an alien, trying to go back to his home planet, and Mars is just a transit hub. This is my theory, half-joking, half-serious."

The Freedom of Money: CZ's New Book Launch

Host Ran Neuner: When did you write your new book, 'The Freedom of Money'?

CZ:

I started writing in prison. I had a lot of time but not much access to the outside world. No internet, just a very basic terminal for 15 minutes at a time, after which you'd be kicked offline. The terminal couldn't copy-paste, so I had to type everything myself. I couldn't really delete easily; if I deleted, I had to retype. So I basically just dumped whatever was in my mind, emailed it to my assistant and a friend.

After getting out, it took about another year and a half to fully complete it. It took me about 6 months to write it, but then many rounds of editing. Each round was a 400-page document that took 2 to 3 weeks.

Host Ran Neuner: What was going through your mind? Why did you think about writing a book? You're in prison, maybe scared, nervous, anxious. Why is writing a book the first reaction? What were you thinking?

CZ:

A few reasons. First, in prison, I wanted to keep myself busy, and writing a book is a good project. It doesn't require anything else; you're in your head and you just write it down. So I was always trying to queue up to get on the computer.

More importantly, some people say writing a book is really writing to yourself. You're having a conversation with yourself. You review your life and think about what's important, what matters, what doesn't, what's interesting, and then you write it down.

After I got out, I also felt it was a natural turning point in my life, a page turn. I originally wanted to publish it immediately upon release, but it took longer. For a few months after, I was applying for a pardon, not knowing when it would come. When the pardon actually came, I was quite surprised and thought it would be a great ending for the book.

Host Ran Neuner: Tell me about the mechanics of writing a book in prison. You said you could use the computer sometimes. People on the outside don't know what it's like inside; we only see it in movies. Did you write with pen and paper? Was there one computer? Could it go online? How did it work?

CZ:

In our unit of 200 inmates, there were 4 terminals. You had to queue to get on. Once on, you only had 15 minutes. The computer had no internet, just a messaging app to send messages to pre-approved contacts, up to 30 people. I only had two contacts: my assistant and a friend.

So I'd go on for 15 minutes. After the time was up, I had to wait several hours before I could use it again and then re-queue. I could use it about 3 to 4 times a day. I had paper and pen, but I would just jot down bullet points of what I wanted to write next time on a single page. Once on the computer, I'd type as fast as I could. This writing process lasted a few months.

Host Ran Neuner: You were there for 4 months. Was the task just keeping busy? Was it day 1, day 2, day 3 counting down while keeping your mind occupied?

CZ:

Something like that. Though strictly speaking, I was in prison for 76 days. Then I went to a halfway house and could go to the office, but my movements were still restricted; I couldn't go everywhere. I was there for about 3 to 4 weeks, and then for the last 14 days of my sentence, I was re-detained. It's in the book; I couldn't write during those last 14 days because I had no access to anything.

Host Ran Neuner: What was the scariest part? Was it the moment you walked in, or some point during your time inside?

CZ:

Before going in, you don't really know what will happen. Newspapers wrote I was the richest person to enter a US prison for a single Bank Secrecy Act violation. So before I went in, my lawyer told me, "You're a prime target for extortion." The problem was, how do I protect myself from being extorted? I didn't know what form the extortion would take. What if someone puts a knife or a metal bar to my neck? How do I avoid that? So there was a lot of preparation, which came with significant mental anxiety. The book doesn't cover too much of this part.

But once inside, the intake process itself was a bit scary. You walk into a unit, and 200 strong-looking men are staring at you. Ultimately, I found that most inmates are reasonable people. Some are criminals, some shouldn't be there, some have been there too long.

The next worry was: would they keep me there forever? Would they find other charges? Would they find other reasons? Especially after I got to the halfway house. The last 9 days should have been home confinement. But on day 13 before the end, police came, handcuffed me, and sent me back to a detention center. The detention center was worse than prison because it's temporary and has nothing. At that moment, I wondered if they were going to add new charges. The mental stress was immense.

Even on the day I was supposed to leave, I was very nervous. Even on the plane, I didn't relax. I waited until the plane left US airspace.

Host Ran Neuner: It sounds like you have a lot of PTSD or distrust towards the system. It seems the distrust might come from the fact that you originally thought you wouldn't go to prison. The whole process felt like the rules could change at any time; there were no fixed rules to the game.

CZ:

Exactly. Any lawyer can tell you, no one in US history has been imprisoned for a single Bank Secrecy Act violation, not even today. I'm the only one, the first and the only. So I'm special, and they treated me specially. I didn't know what other "special treatment" might come.

Five days before my sentencing, Senator Elizabeth Warren declared war on crypto. That was during the Biden administration, and there was indeed a war against crypto, so there was a lot of uncertainty. I was a special case; I didn't know what to expect. Even my sentencing judge said he couldn't follow precedents because I was a special case.

Host Ran Neuner: You are a special case. When you walk outside, people come up to you. You are very respected here. What was it like in prison? When did the inmates know who you were? Did they respect you, or were you just another person with a number who committed a crime?

CZ: