Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao: Please stop mocking
Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) publicly replied to Elon Musk on the X platform on October 30: “Elon, I have a lot of respect for you, but now is not the time to mock. Please stop.” He also pointed out that the SPCX shares held by Binance, which stemmed from its $500 million investment in Musk’s 2022 Twitter acquisition, are currently worth more than $1 billion, and said that he hoped Musk could give a little support. Musk had previously responded to the news that Binance had been hacked with an emoji and “Everyday is Zeroday.”
This response came after Binance suffered a hacker attack of about $6.3 billion to $6.4 billion, an event described by multiple blockchain analytics firms as the largest cryptocurrency theft in history. TRM Labs, Chainalysis and others attributed the attack with high confidence to the North Korea-linked hacker group TraderTraitor. About $3 billion in assets have been frozen, and Binance has announced that it will use company funds and the SAFU fund to fully cover user losses. Yi He later said the company’s full-year revenue was enough to cover it, with no need to sell SpaceX-related shares; CZ also clarified that he had not been suggesting a sale.
The incident exposed the cross-capital pathway between crypto exchanges and Musk’s ecosystem: the early Twitter acquisition investment was transformed through subsequent xAI/SpaceX transactions into SPCX equity, becoming a public signal of financial strength. CZ used the size of the holdings to offset market doubts about solvency, avoiding a narrative that it “has to sell assets,” while maintaining the stability of ties with key tech capital parties. Source: public information.
Original sources:
Title: Elon, have a lot of respect for you, but bad time to troll. Please stop.
Posted by: CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance)
Date published: 2026-10-30
URL: https://x.com/cz_binance/status/2116097554882728341
Source type: original post by the person involved
Verification status: original text read
Supporting content: asked to stop mocking, mentioned that the $500 million Twitter investment corresponded to SPCX shares now worth more than $1 billion, requested supportTitle: Elon Musk, CZ Trade Blows Over SpaceX Shares After $6.4B Binance Hack
Posted by: Decrypt
Date published: 2026-10-30
URL: https://decrypt.co/382236/elon-musk-cz-trade-blows-spacex-shares-binance-hack
Source type: industry media report
Verification status: read
Supporting content: Musk’s emoji and mocking reaction, CZ’s response, Yi He’s statement that revenue could cover the losses, Binance had set aside more than $6.34 billion in company funds
ABAB AI Insight
CZ’s public response turned a security incident into a display of capital relationships. Binance’s exposure to Musk’s ecosystem was not a new investment, but the $500 million invested during the 2022 Twitter acquisition, which was absorbed by xAI, then turned into SPCX equity after SpaceX acquired xAI, and appreciated to more than $1 billion. By proactively mentioning this holding after the attack, CZ was effectively signaling to the market and to Musk that there are additional resources that can be mobilized, rather than passively explaining loss coverage capacity. Yi He’s follow-up, saying that revenue was sufficient and there was no need to sell, further locked in the narrative that there would be no forced liquidation and avoided the market interpreting the holdings as a potential source of selling pressure.
When a large centralized exchange is attacked by a state-level hacker group, publicly emphasizing capital buffers and having the founder speak out has become a structural response pattern. In similar-scale incidents before, exchanges such as Bybit also relied on public coverage commitments and asset-freezing coordination to stabilize users and liquidity. This incident was larger, but the mechanism was similar: freeze part of the assets, cover the remainder with company funds plus SAFU, and reduce run-risk expectations through a public statement by the founder. Although CZ has stepped down as CEO, he still spoke out as co-founder and major shareholder, showing that in extreme events, control and reputation remain highly concentrated in the founder.
Compared with the public assurances before FTX’s collapse, the difference this time is that the losses have been quantified by third-party analytics firms, some assets have already been frozen, and the source of coverage funds has been clearly pointed to the company’s own resources and existing holdings rather than customer assets. SpaceX holdings themselves are illiquid (subject to lock-up periods), but being publicly cited as a “balance-sheet resource” was enough to change short-term market pricing of solvency. Musk’s mocking response and CZ’s capital-based counterpunch also reflect the dual nature of the relationship between crypto infrastructure and tech capital giants: both prior cooperation and public sparring.
ABAB News · Laws of cognition
Publicly stating the size of holdings during a crisis is itself a solvency signal.
When a founder remains in control of the narrative even after stepping down, it shows that control and reputation have not truly separated.
After a state-level cyberattack, the core response of a large CEX is frozen-asset coordination and public coverage commitments, not technical explanations.