"Habitual Liar" or Just Cosplaying? Star Xu's Decade-Long Beef With CZ Gets Dearer Than a Last Look at Your Wallet

The eternal crypto grudge match between OKX founder Star Xu and Binance overlord Changpeng "CZ" Zhao heated up Thursday faster than a memecoin developer'sexit, with Xu dropping the "habitual liar" label on CZ in a series of X posts that dust off allegations older than most DeFi protocols.

The beef dates back to Zhao's short but allegedly spicy stint at OKCoin—founded by Xu—where he was accused in 2015 of "harmful acts of conduct" and truth-stretching worthy of a whitepaper's roadmap. Zhao has, naturally, disputed these claims with the enthusiasm of a founder seeing green candles.

This latest flare-up comes after January's public squabble, when Xu blamed Binance-adjacent market behavior for amplifying the Oct. 10 crypto crash—a claim that Binance and other market participants disputed with all the conviction of a project team denying insider wallets.

The spark this time? CZ's memoir dropped earlier this week, prompting Xu to resurrect these ancient artifacts. "Look, I had no plans to dig up these fossils involving CZ [...], but since this book dragged me back into the arena, let's Factsplaining 101," Xu posted, apparently unaware that when you say "I'm not going to talk about something," you're definitely going to talk about it.

"Out of the blue, Star [Xu] accused me of forging a contract while at OKCoin," CZ wrote in his memoir. "... In May 2015, I got annoyed and fired off a Reddit post, obviously denying any contract forgery ... while I was at it, I listed some concerns about OKCoin's operations." The memoir, apparently, included some unfiltered opinions about his former employer.

Xu, doubling down harder than a trader averaging into a losing position, pointed to a video he claims proves contradictory contract versions existed, while reiterating that Zhao had misled the public about the whole mess. "Four months in prison later, and he's still out here making false statements to the world," Xu wrote, adding that "a habitual liar never changes their nature." Points for the consistency, at least.

The drama escalated when Xu questioned whether CZ had been truthful about his marital status, citing earlier CoinDesk reporting where Zhao's spouse was referred to as his "wife" in a court filing. Xu declared he'd apologize if CZ could produce a signed divorce agreement—because apparently settling score beefs requires not being single. Bold strategy.

Zhao fired back that he's "officially divorced" and threw down a gauntlet: a $1 billion bet—or whatever amount